"my armpits smell like cake."

QUOTE: Tommy, 5 years old. hahaha I love little kids. and I MISS holding them. it's seriously torture and some little kids tempt me SO much. like they come and try and sit on my lap or hold on to my neck and pick up their feet and try and get me to hold them. GAH. I feel like Satan pushing them off. #missionaryprobs

BEST WEEK EVER. Ahhhh I'm so happy that I got to Skype you guys this week! AAAAND talk to Stone through Skype, through the phone. hahah those were the best tears I cried all week. My Christmas day was good. there is nothinnnnnnnnnnnn like the mission, that's for sure. hahaha it's awesome though! The members SPOILED us! We got stockings filled a few times by different sisters in the ward and they just totally took care of us and made our day special!

Come day after Christmas, the Lord has kept us BUSY! And I'm so grateful because I've barely had time to think about home or missing the holidays with you guys. This week we contacted a lot of referrals and got two new investigators and talked to a lottttt of different people! Yesterday after church, my jaw was so tight and my head was POUNDING from all the talking that we were doing...so naturally Sister James blocked off one of the doors in the church building and I did a nice long headstand and it did the trick and we kept going till 9! Ha! #yogiforlyfe

I'm so, so grateful to be serving a mission. I know that Christ lives and that it is essential that we come to know Him. I think one of my favorite names for our Savior is that He is our Advocate with the Father. I don't know about you, but if there's anyone that I want to help plead my case before Heavenly Father, I want it to be our Savior. I want him to be able to tell him... "No, I know Miss Lauren Gayle and she knows me. She tried her best and my graceis sufficient for her."

May our resolutions this year include becoming more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is "the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by [Him]."

I LOVE YOU GUYS.

xoxo,

sister ramsey

me: "hey can you help us find a street on base? we forgot our map."

airbase guard: "sure...whatchya lookin for?"

me: "where is ratchet?"

guard: **looks at me like I'm crazy and laughs

me: "hahaha I'm not kidding! That's a real street!"

guard: (he's black FYI) "boo there aint no such thing as ratchet 'round here. WE IN  I D A H O."

hahahaha I MISS BLACK PEOPLE WHO KNOW WHAT RATCHET IS.

PS- anyone know how to get in touch with Usher's manager?! I would like to ask him to record me some hymns so that I don't have to suffer without Sunday night slow jamz any longer.  

PSS- HOLLA TO MY GIRL K8 HANSEN GHOSTFACEKILLA goin to the OLYPMICS. so incredibly proud of her. probs old news but I'm servin this thing called a mish and I'm outta the loop. LOVE YOU GIRL. #TTYL #BRB #GTSAM 

#wildwildwest

The names JAMES. Jessie James...aka my new companion...aka she's not actually an outlaw and the only thing she's going to rob people of is their trip to the telestial. #merrychristmas

 

this week was really good! and really crazy with trips to Twin Falls for transfers aaaand our mission Christmas dinner... it was the bessssssssssst. I hadn't seen Sister Wright since our transfer 5 weeks ago and it was just too long. oh I love that girl. AND Sister Bly (my MTC companion).... she is my sister. Having the whole mission together was a dream. They held a talent show, which was a lot of fun and then a dinner and a devotional. I'm so happy to be a missionary now. It's so humbling to be surrounded by so many incredible people...180 missionaries, mission leaders, members, General Authorities, etc. Ahhh it was invigorating.

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU to all those who have sent me a little somethin in the mail. I don't deserve it all, but I'm GRATEFUL for each and every one of you. I feel soo lucky to have you in my life!!

 

TWO DAYS TILL WE CAN SKYPE. I'm dying. I'm so excited. 60 minutes. I'm so jealous you guys are in Tennessee but I hope you are loooooooooooving Christmas break and relishing the season. This is the best time of year & the spirit of Christ just fills the world. I wish it happened more then once a year... maybe with 80,000 missionaries out, we can make it last all year round. Ha, that would be somethin.

 

I LOVE YOU GUYS so much. And I hope all who read this knows HOW MUCH I love you! I can't even put it all into words.

 

Merry Christmas LOVAS.

 

xoxo,

sister ramsey

my last district

THE REAL JESSE JAMES

j chillin with Mary J Bly

anotha day, anotha dolla

hiiiiiiiiiiii. first off, THANK YOU DAD. seriously my future hubs has his job cut out for him... for more reasons then one... but mostly because I've had YOU as my dad. couldn't be more lucky. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU COULD SEND A CHRISTMAS TREE. hahahaha that was seriously the best surprise ever. I was just telling Sis Cluff earlier that day that we should get ourselves a little tree. #INSPIRED #cantstopwontstop

 

and momma. you know me TOO WELL. Mr. Buble' has been playing non-stop in our car ever since I got that CD. hahahha I LOVE YOU. best Christmas album. you guys are great at sending Christmas spirit via mail. #props

 

i don't have a ton of time today but this week was a good one!! sister cluff and I don't have a ton of time left together cause transfers are WEDNESDAY & we got calls last night that our area is splitting and we both are training... haha #what 

 

I'll be covering 3 out of our 4 wards that we have now, so i'm stoked about that. Sister Cluff is staying in Mt. Home and covering two of the wards that our elders have... on BIKES. #woof

 

soooo pray for us both! I have to act like I know somethin' and Cluff Diddy and her new comp are going to freeze their butts off! haha it's going to be great! I'm going to miss Sister Cluff though... We've decided that there probably couldn't be two more opposite people in existence buuuuut it's been a fun five weeks. I can't tell you how many times she's called me "apostate" or just looked at me in awe after I do something retarded (like roll over the hood and pretend she hit me with the car)... haha we don't get each other. BUt we actually had the bestttt conversation this week... we read our little daily dose (aka a scripture at night) and it normally takes 30 seconds. 3 HOURS LATER we were still talking and we had the most in depth, mind blowing, AH-HA conversation ever. and it was awesome. and then I threw up 7 pages worth of words to try and record it all in my journal so that I could remember everything that we talked about. GAH I don't know how anyone can get bored with the gospel. the concept of eternity could keep you thinking for hours. ps...it's the coolest thing ever.

 

I LOVE THIS GOSPEL. I love the way the spirit enlightens our minds and can help us learn and stretch and grow. I think my favorite thing ever is when I'm teaching someone, but I realize I'm learning too.

 

I love you all and hope you are having a great week. 9 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS. hand written letters are my only Christmas wish. I cannot wait to skypeeeeeeee.

 

Remember the reason for the season and LOVE someone. SERVE someone. BE someone, someone else needs.

 

xoxo,

sister ramsey

 

 

suuuper awkward moment of the week:

 

this week we were having dinner over at someone's house and while we were sharing our little spiritual thought with the fam, their little CHAWEENIE (chihuahua/ wiener dog mix...funniest name ever) comes over and mounts my arm. I'M SORRY NO. NOT OKAYYY YOU LITTLE ****. hahahaha nothing to drive away the spirit like....that.

 

peace & blessins.

"so vintage. so rad slash it needs some TLC."

that's sister cluff quoting me. hahaha you should see her impersonate me doing my ghetto voice. it's the funniest. did i ever tell you guys she's from Springerville? She knows alllllllll about snowflake and show low and small town livin. Her parents live on like 60 acres or something up there. i wonder if we've ever crossed paths before... haha small world.

i can't believe it's already Monday again... these weeks go by SO fast. we only have like a week and a half left in our transfer!! Each week I'm out Heavenly Father pushes me a little more and it's awesome.

so last week we met this guy named TJ at our Thanksgiving dinner with our islander and we told him a little bit about what we do as missionaries and we invited him to come to church on Sunday but he gave us a reason as to why he wouldn't be able to so we said okay and went about our Thanksgiving dinner. Then on Sunday, HE SHOWED UP. What? Later in the week we stopped by and talked to him about it and he said that he loved church and was so impressed at how welcoming everyone was! Then we gave him a BOM & invited him to read and set up an apt to come back and teach him. 

Last night, we met at his house and had such an incredible lesson! Ahhh Heavenly Father is truly PREPARING so many of his children to accept the gospel. TJ is such a humble guy and he is so willing to follow whatever God puts in front of him, even if he is unsure about it or it doesn't make sense. He's not sure why God brought him out here to Idaho all by himself{makes two of us, haha}, but he feels the spirit prompting him to stay here and not go back to California. We taught him most of the first lesson and invited him to be baptized and he said yes! I feel like TJ has taught me that it is truly our mission to just INVITE. Heavenly Father is doing all the work and guiding people back to Him, according to His timing for each of His children. I love seeing how the Lord works and feel blessed that he allows me to help. 

God works through each and every one of us when we muster up the courage to invite our friends to share our testimonies and the happiness we feel because of the gospel. This weekend I gave a talk on being converted to the gospel and it hit me that when we are truly converted, we take the testimony Heavenly Father has blessed us with and we do something about it. When we act and become and do something with our testimonies, we become converted and we experience a change of heart. I LOVED Elder Eyring's message this month... he says: 

"The Lord makes that commandment [D&C 88:81] easier to obey through the change that occurs in your heart as you accept and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result, your love for others grows, as does your desire for them to have the same happiness you have experienced.....

Christmastime turns our hearts to the Savior and to the joy His gospel has brought us. We show our gratitude to Him best as we offer that happiness to others. Gratitude is turned to joy as we offer names to missionaries and as we take the names of our ancestors to the temple. That evidence of our gratitude can make friends and families that endure forever."

I love that! And I love you guys! Invite all of TAMPA to Night in Bethlehem!! haha I'm so sad I won't be there. No worries though... The Love Abiding Christian Church aka the ONLY black-choir in Mountain Home, ID performed at the Nativity event that happened at our Stake Center. OH MAN. It was the best thing ever and made me feel like I was right back in the South for a minute. I talked to them after and they made me SO happy!! This is the best time of year. Especially since it's a balmy 2 degrees today.

I LOVE YOU GUYS. t minus 15 days? till we get to skype!!! AH I CAN"T WAIT.

xoxo, 

sister ramsey

#WWJD

DECEMBER SAY WHAT? this is one of my favorite times of the year! Every time I hear Angels We Have Heard on High, I get super excited and think about Night in Bethlehem and then I get sad about missing it! Someone send me the sound track... cough... Jay? Dolly? Mountain Home is actually doing something similar to NIB, but it's called the Creche'. Sounds fancy buuuut I'm not sure anything can top NIB. I'll keep you updated. 

Speaking of sad. PAUL WALKER DIED? Tell me social media is in mourning for this loss of beauty. One of our investigators told me last night and I was so upset. Hahaha I probably could've cried over it buuuut Sis Cluff has made mevery aware of our calling as of late and I'm trying to represent Jesus Christ better. Do you know what kind of mantle that is?! She's pointed out to me...a number of times... that I still say things that Jesus Christ proooooobably wouldn't be saying if He were here. Hahahaha she's kept a quote book and by reading it, I sound like the most inappropriate missionary in existence. FOR THE RECORD... it's all clean. It's just funny. Haha someone needs to send me one of the WWJD bracelets from the south.

I'm so glad you guys had such a good Thanksgiving! Mine was a lot of fun! We had 3 dinners scheduled but luckilyyyy one had to cancel so it was great! Our last one was with John, from Guam, and we had an island Thanksgiving with fried fish (head, tail, and all) aaaaand straight up RAW fish in Wasabi. hahahah so good. I've eaten more sweets and COOKIES this week than I can even count. OH MY. i love it.

so much happened this week and I don't have any time to write about it. BUT starting yesterday, our mission has set out to study about the Savior each and every day this month in our studies and I'd invite you to do the same. I am SO grateful for Jesus Christ and for the Atonement. The more I study and apply Christ's doctrine, the more I learn about Him. And the more we learn about Him, the better we know Him. We have to know Him to become like Him. 

I love you all SO MUCH and think about you daily! We are in this together. As Stone's letter I got in the mail this week said: #thisishowwedo #ramzgang (his letter had 20+ hashtags in it. hahahahaha i've created a monster)

PSALMS 100:3-5

xoxo, 

Sis Ramsey 

"We chill, me and Him"

YOU GUYS. missions are seriously awesome. but missions are hard. I never understood what "hard" meant, until I got here. and it's nothing I can really explain either. just sendin out a big WORDDDDDDDDDD to all those returned missionaries out there. haha

 

My mission is teaching me so much. It's especially teaching me how to turn OUT. There are times and days when I just don't feel like being a missionary but I have to do it anyway. I just keep moving, keep working, keep praying, and thinking of someone else besides myself. I'm so grateful to have these 18 months to practice that because it definitely isn't a natural thing for me to want to all the time, ha. This is good. This is real good.

 

This week the Lord was good to us! I fiiiiiinally got to meet with a guy named John, who Sis Cluff and her old companion met with once or twice before and he is awesome. He is from Guam and he LOVES the gospel. He is so floored that every question that he's ever had is so easily answered and that the spirit is always accompanied with everything that he learns. We met with him this week and had a really good discussion with him and set a baptismal date for December. Ah, he's so great. He was tellin me about his relationship with the Lord and he said, AND I QUOTE, "We chill, me and Him. It's like we're on a whole 'nother level." hahaha

 

ALSO, we met a guy named Chad this week and had the best lesson. He lives on the Air Force Base, which means we can't go over without a member or an apt, so we went over with Sister Hyer (who is the best RM ever). He loves talking about religion and stuff so we got talking about God and he told us that he wished that he could say, with the same conviction as we did, that he knows that God lives. Obviously, we told him that was possible and we challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. I had shared my experience with the Book of Mormon this year and how I followed Alma 32:27 and "experimented on the word" in 50 days... it was all clicking for Chad and he took up the challenge to do the same. Ahhhh it was seriouslyawesome. The spirit was so strong and we all felt it. Chad looked at Sis Hyer and said, "Did Salt Lake send her or something...?" haha, why yes. a prophet actually. shall we meet next week and talk about it? yessss, yes we should.

 

AND Molly and Echo had their baptism and confirmations this weekend. It was beautiful! I love being on a mission because it's reminding me how important baptism is. That sounds obvious but I haven't thought about my actual baptism a ton since, I don't know when... But being here, seeing people who have gone 30, 40 years without the gospel and then seeing them be baptized, it's somethin' else. You can see it in their eyes!

 

Well I love you guys a TON. This week will be weird without you all around the table for Thanksgiving but I'm sure it will be great! We have SO much to be grateful for. Where would we be without each other?! Where would we be without the gospel?! My heart is so full thinking about how good our God is.

 

I love him. I know He lives. CLING to His gospel and He'll never let you down.

 

xoxo,

sister ramsey 

Country Rooooad.....

...MOUNTAIN HOOOOOOOOOOOME. this is the place i belongggggggg!" 

John Denver anyone? haha Mountain Home is my new area and it's great! It's a lot different from Burley but I think I'll warm up to it soon. Everything and everyone is so spread out, so I'm really grateful we have a car. If we're being honest... I miss being in a biking area already. Haha, i know. WHAT? I'm already becoming so diva over turning on the heat as fast as possible when we get in the car that I miss the tough(ish) girl who rode a bike everywhere in this weather. Aaaand when you're on bikes, you feel like the Lord called you to be the town greeter. I miss feeling like it was my job to wave "hi" to everyone and the convenience of being able to stop and talk to someone or help someone bring in groceries. Biking areas definitely have their perks. But for now, I'll enjoy turning the heat down for my companion because I'm roasting her in the car. Ha.

Speaking of my companion.... Her name is Sister Cluff and she is so funny. She reminds me SO MUCH of Kelsie Catrelli (aka Sister Kelsie Thompson). You know how Kelsie would always call me "absurd" and "outrageous" and things of such nature... Sister Cluff does the same. Hahahaha she is awesome. She is super quiet but once we're teaching, she's really powerful. She is our designated driver and hates it. Like I've never seen anyone hate driving SO much. She said she used to avoid it at all costs and so watching her drive everywhere just makes me laugh. I told her I never knew I would pay for having a lead foot so much on my mission... and she corrected me and said, "I never knew I would be paying so much foryour lead foot on my mission." But it's a good thing we're out in the middle of nowhere, where the population of this entire city is like 10,000 cause there is like no traffic. ever. haha it's a quiet place.

To be honest, this week was a rough transition for me. There is not a lot happening here in Mountain Home and we are covering four different wards and are only teaching a few people. That being said, I KNOW the Lord has people prepared no matter where I'm at. I can already feel there will be a lot of time spent on my knees this week. 

On the plus side, we do have a baptism this weekend and I'm so excited! It's a mother and her daughter and they are so awesome! They have a cool story and I'll have to share it with you next week!

I love you all and I'm out of time! You are always in my prayers and I love love love reading your emails each week! They keep me going!

xoxo, 

sister ramsey

alsoooooo....

this is my new mailing address

1050 E. 18th N.

Mountain Home, ID 83647

LOVE YOU

me & sister cluff in our fancy camaroooooooo... i mean corolla #missionlife

You can take the girl outta Burley...

...but you can't take Burley outta me! I can't believe this trasfer is already over! 6 weeks SAY WHAT? Suunday night we got a call about transfers and I honestly did not believe that anything was changing in our companionship. Sister Wrist isn't even done trainnnnning me. So when they told me I was leaving.... HEART BROKEN. I love Burley so much and I feel like Sister Wright and I are just really getting the ball rolling. We finally have names down, and where everyone lives, and their callings.... we've figured out our strengths and weaknesses and how each other teaches and this week we had all these goals of really trying to perfect that! Not to mention all the people we are teaching that I LOVE. Ugh. The only thing I know is that this must be inspired because it just isn't logical to switch us up yet. Haha I'm trying to hone in my inner-Nephi and think "I'll go and do..." buuuuuut I just don't want to leave! Hopefully I'll just move somewhere else in Burley haha.

 

Aaaaanyways this week was really great! Missed you guys yesterday on e-mail, but it was Veteran's Day so everythang was shut down in town. This week I met so many wonderful people! Me and Sister Wright did some "spirit tracting" haha meaning basically we were livin on a prayer and trusting our promptings! And it was AWESOME. We have met so many incredible people and had some really good conversations about life/ the Gospel.

 

This week we finally made contact with this lady named Molly, who we have been trying to see for the last month. We've made countless stops by her house and she has never been home, so this week we stopped by and again, no luck. But then we had a prompting to just write her a note, so we walked down to the street light so we could see and wrote her a quick message and planned to leave her with our number. But then as we were walking back towards her house, we saw HER GARAGE DOOR CLOSING. You know in the movie, Disturbia, when Shia see's his neighbor's car and that it has the big dent and that he's the killer or whatever and the garage door is shutting??? THAT'S WHAT IT WAS LIKE. Sister Wright and I just stopped in our tracks and looked at each other like whaaaaaat?!! Hahaha I felt like we were stalking her in that moment, but it's fiiiiine! We just starting laughing and realized it wasn't about the note... it was about waiting five more minutes so that Molly could get home. I love the way the Lord works! We knocked on her door and two of her little girls darted out the door and gave me the biggest hug! They asked me who I was and why I was there and just kept giving me so much love! I squatted down next to them and they about knocked me over! Haha, they were hanging onto my neck and picking up their feet for me to hold them and I was laughing so hard. They are 4 and 3 years old and just the cutestgirls ever. It seriously made me so happy... I felt like they were hugs from Heaven and it was the best. We met with Molly later in the week and she wants to take the lessons and start coming to church and she seriously is the cutest mom ever. We are going back to see them tonight and I CANT WAIT. I'm so bummed I'm getting transferred because I already love them so much and they don't even know it yet!

 

Then this weekend, RICK AND HEATHER GOT MARRIED!! And then RICK GOT BAPTIZED! Ah, Saturday was such a perfect day. It was filled with lots of service, and wedding set up, good company, and my favorite events. I'm a sucker for love and Rick and Heather were so cute. The bishop married them and they were so happy. They just couldn't wipe the smile off of their faces and it was such a beautiful ceremony. We had desserts and such after and then headed into the Chapel for the baptismal service. The spirit just filled the room and it was so awesome to see Rick and Heather's family get a little closer to their eternity together! They plan to be sealed in a year's time and can't wait to go to the temple. This gospel truly blesses families and I'm so grateful to be sealed to mine!

 

Speaaaaaking of.... AUNT BECKY. My dad told me about you receiving your endowments and it just put me into tears!!! I am so happy for you and proud of how far you have come and wish I could be there. I love the temple so much. Please let me know how your expereience goes! All this being on a mission and teaching other people about the gospel and blessings of the temple, reaffirms to me that there is nothing more I want than for all of my family and people that I love to receive those blessings! We are in this together. F O R E V E R #sandlot #yourekillinmesmalls

 

Speaking of Sandlot... we had the best game of softball yesterday with our whole district. Haha it was so much fun!!! And more than anything it made me miss our big family softball games and being at the field.

 

Well I love you all SO MUCH. Today will be full of lessons and goodbyes that I'm not looking forward to. Sunday, we were having dinner at Jenna's house (the little girl who was baptized last month) and that's when we found out about transfers. She offered to hide me in her basement and smuggle food to me and tell anyone who came looking for me she hadn't seen me.. lawls she's blind. hahaha #punny

 

AND I'm fiiiinally getting my ride in the Winmills new car tonight. HAHAHA new camaro. still funny. Saying bye to them will definitley be the hardest. Sunday FHE at their house was a bawl fest and I felt like I was back at home saying goodbye. I can't wait for you guys to meet them.. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I can't wait though, till I get to see them post mission and we can give legal hugs and watch a ball game together. Haha and I introduce Ty and Brooke because I've decided they are getting married. #weddingplanner #iAmJLO

 

also I love that everyone uses XOXO now.

hugs and kisses snitches

lol LOVE YOU ALL.

 

sister ramZ

Sister Wright and I #idahosunsets

Me and the Winmills AKA my second family

Rick and Heather !!

shawty you a ten

hahahaha kk subject line? so there is this dog that is the funniest looking dog I've ever seen. I swear it has the head of like a lab, the body of a bullmastiff but the legs of a weiner dog. i'm not even kidding. the first time i passed it, i yelled at sister wright... "that dog has no legs!!" it was standing on the grass and looked like it was buried belly deep... but nope. it just has short legs. so the other day it was out and we passed it and i started laughing and made sister wright turn around so I could take a picture... so we did and the owner was outside and we started talking to him about his dog. long story short... Tony, who is the owner of the dog ("shortie") has been wanting a "Mormon Bible" for some time (WHAT? AWESOME.) so we gave him a copy and told him we'd come back this week to talk about it some more.thanks shawty. hahahah RADIO KILLA, KILLA, KILLLLLAAAA.

also. remember my second family out here, the Winmills? well they put their name in for a contest at the gas station.........AND WON A CAR. hahahaha WHO WINS A BRAND NEW CHEVY CAMARO? the winmills. i died laughing. that just doesn't happen. oh gosh, they came to our apartment the next day and told us the story and we were all just freaking out. so funny.

this week was so great. eeeeven though a lot of our appointments fell through, we found that the Lord had other people for us to meet, instead. we had Stake Conference this weekend and it was so awesome. I bet you couldn't guess what the theme of it was....? MISSIONARY WORK. haha as a missionary, I love it. but I was sitting thinking about what I would be thinking, normally... people... missionary work is not going away. haha general conference, sacrament meetings, testimony meetings, sunday school, relief society/ priesthood. lately everything has been centered on missionary work and it's awesome. The Lord is truly hastening His work and you can either jump on board or get left behind and miss out on the blessings He has in store for you by sharing what you know.  

i've realized that missionary work isn't just this other thing that we sometimes think about and go out and do. no. missionary work is apart of our everyday lives... it's the example we're setting for others, it's the way we treat people, it's being a friend to someone we don't know well, it's inviting. missionary work doesn't mean we know everything and it also doesn't mean it can only happen if we are having a conversation about the plan of salvation or the restoration or other gospel principle. this weekend, in our adult session, they had three converts share their conversion story and I thought, that's all we're ever doing. swapping stories with other people, trying to relate to each other and help each other figure things out. every detail of our lives relates back to the gospel, so don't be afraid to share how The Gospel of Jesus Christ has blessed your life with others.

hahaha I'M SO MISSIONARY. lawls sorry sorry. its just i've realized nothing "happened" to me, to make me a missionary. Granted, I was called and set apart and I definitely feel the blessings of that but I'm still me. Haha I talk to people the same, think the same... and by just talking to people and relating it back to the gospel, I'm seeing so many blessings! Tryyy it... you might like it (*Mr. Mac aaaanyone? ...Sickles?) 

Gosh, I just love this work. I love the Lord and I'm grateful for tender mercies. He buoys me up just when I need it and I know He knows each of us individually. Mom and Dad... thank you for getting me here. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU for your love and support and emails and letters. Seriously, I love you all SO much. too much. and really couldn't do this without you. your letters make. my. week.  YOU ARE THE BEST.

xoxo,
sister ramsey

halloween night. yep. that's my comp at the bottom

"shawty" hahahah funniest dog ever

WHO WINS A CAMARO?

I got the bug....

...SO BAD this week... like death by puking happened to me this week and it was the worst. I woke up at 12:30 and got sick every 15 minutes until 4am... then it was every 30 minutes until 10am. I've never thrown up so much in my life. remember how the MTC forced the flu shot on me even though I don't believe in that crap? YEP PROOF IT DOESN'T WORK. aaaaanyways. I'm SO GRATEFUL to be feeling better now. The thing about a mission, is time doesn't feel like it's yours. I'm on the Lord's time... so being sick? SUCH A WASTE OF TIME. And you have a companion that's all relying on you and can't leave you so you just feel helpless and horrible. GAH. I'm grateful that my sisters in Burley took care of me. Sister Wright stayed up with me that night and kept checking my temp and then Sis Dodds and Sis Bly came and made me drink jello water? never heard of that trick before but it seemed to help. they brought me doTERRA and oiled me up and put me to bed haha. The next day, a sister from our ward made me a miracle herbthat healed me. i've found a few natural healin hippie sistas out here and i just love them and ask them to teach me their ways. aaaand i was afraid this mission would change me! HA.

aaaaaaaaaaanyways. Miss Jenna got baptized this week and it was awesome!! Me and Sister Wright gave the talks and every time we asked her a question, she had the most witty answer.... she was quite the comic relief and it just made me love her even more!

we had a mission conference in Twin Falls this week and it was SO good. like so good. Elder Cardon of the Seventy was visiting and he taught us a lot. He was bold and straight forward in his teaching and it was powerful. he taught us a lot about our calling, our assignment, and about conversion. it was the best! we had a fireside with him on Fridaynight and it's purpose was for us to bring investigators, and new converts... they talked about what it meant to be a follower of Jesus Christ and how the gospel blesses us and Elder Cardon testified of Jesus Christ. It was great for investigators and and the chapel was filled with tatoos and crazy hair and smelt like smoke and I've never been so happy! The gospel is for everyone! I hope all those people felt something that night.

this week, i feel like i learned a lot about charity and love. Last night, we were at the Winmill's house doing our Sundaynight FHE (which is the best) and we talked a lot about charity and it was awesome. We read from Moroni 7 and the spirit taught me something I had never thought about before. Normally, when I think of charity, I think of service. But in verse 45 it talks about how chairty "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." We know that charity is the pure love of Christ, right? So Christ's pure love for me... for Stone, for Kellee, Brooke, Jacqui, and everyone reading this... Christ's pure love for each of us BEARS all things with us. Christ's pure love BELIEVES in us, even when we fail Him...  it HOPES for us to be a little better every day and to keep trying. Christ's pure love ENDURES all things. No matter how bad we screw up, how helpless we feel, how many times we ignore Him and disregard His teachings and His love for us, charity never faileth. Christ's pure love for us never fails. It suffereth long and is kind. It's easy to be hard on ourselves and be angry with our or other's shortcomings but the Lord wants us to remember charity. He loves us perfectly and doesn't want us to dwell in anger or pride or evil. Never forget HE LOVES YOU. Use His atonement daily and stay close to Him.

well fam... i LOVE YOU.

pray for me because I'm recovering from a small case of WHIPLASH? how? you ask? goooooooood question since I don't have a car. this week karma laughed at me. i love sister wright to death buuuuut sometimes she's a little clutzy and tends to fall often. secretly i'm always laughing at her in my head, just waiting for the next accident. well this week, we were walking up to meet with Rick, one of our soon to be converts, and I had my hands in my pockets because it was faaaaahhhhhhreeeeeeeezzzzzziiiiiinnnnnnnnnnggggg and I totally MISSED the step up to the front porch and my hands were stuck in my pockets and BAAAAAM. face plant. hahahahahaha seriously I have never in my life fell FLAT ON MY FACE. so check that one off the bucket list, haha. my wrists and face took the hit of the fall but luckily nothing serious was hurt. other than my ego. hahahahah so funny. so embar. their porch is like hallow, too, so it was a loud fall. i almost peed my pants from laughing so much. first thing Rick said? "yep. she's blonde" like realllly? are blonde joke still even a thing? hahaha #whatevs

tweets/quotes from this week?

"I'd have to say peeing next to Elder Cardon was a spiritual highlight of my mission. I could really feel his spiritual ora...." UM. Thank you, for that, Elder Bennett. 12:49PM

"we were watching our neighbor's goat this week because they were out of town..." UM. #onlyinidaho

hahah my fav. yesterday in Relief Society, everyone was talking, and Sister Manning, who is 96 years old, turns around when the lesson starts and says "Well I guess it's time to shut up now!" hahahah what? you tell 'em sis.

I LOVE YOU ALL. happy halloween. i expect pics!

xoxo,

sister ramsey

Lebron? Lebanon?

HAPPY ONE MONTH AND THREE DAYS TO MEEEE. Can you believe it? Time is flying and it's freaking me out. I'm so happy though. Seriously every day I hop on my bike and think, "my life is so cool... I ride a bike all around town at the most BEAUTIFUL time of year and go talk to people I've never met and offer service to them. all day every day." I mean... WHO DOES THAT? missionaries. and i'm one of them and i am so grateful.

STONE is out. Oh my gosh... I wish I could've been there to drop him off. I can't wait to hear about how he's doing. The MTC is the best place ever. I wish we could've been there at the same time... regardless I'm happy we're serving together. knowing we're in this together makes the hard times easier.

This week was another one for the books! Friday was just the best. It was me and Sister Bly's one month mark so we celebrated by going to Bent Bean and ordering ourselves pumpkin spice white chocolate steamers and muffins!! the best celebration of the day? It was our district temple trip and it was soooooo so so good. gosh I LOVE the temple. going was just what I needed and I didn't even realize I needed it. I was sitting in the celestial room and I have never felt so much PEACE in my life...I never wanted to leave. The whole time I was in there, I kept feeling the Lord reassure me, "Don't worry, I'll take care of you." Such a blessing...I'm so grateful for the temple!!

Then the day kept getting better! We went over to Rick and Heather's apt... Rick has been investigating the church and has been working hard to be worthy of baptism. Last week we met with him and his girlfriend Heather and we talked about a wedding date so that Rick could be baptized and they told us they wanted to wait until next summer to be married so that all of their kids could be there. So we planned on talking about obedience to all of God's commandments and the blessing of a celestial marriage. We wanted to focus on how the real celebration would be when they could be sealed for eternity... not just married for time. We walked in to their apartment and one of the first things they said was..."WE SET A DATE!! November 9th!!" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Lesson plan? out the window! oh my gosh... it was the best appointment. Rick and Heather are so cute and it clicked for them. Rick whipped out this HUGE 100 year old book of all of his family history and said, "I'm the first member in my family and I've got a lot of work to do. I don't want to wait more than a year to go to the temple." What? You're working on family history? Ok, you stud pioneer of your family. Ah, the spirit in the room was so awesome and I know there were people on the other side rejoicing with us because they have been waiting for Rick. It was so cool. And every time we went to say something to Rick, he finished our sentences! He totally gets it and it's so awesome to see.

Then there's miss. jenna. she is incredible. She is 100% blind and the bravest, most independent little girl you will ever meet. she just got a kidney transplant a few months ago and is now healthy and full of energy! we have been teaching her every day for the past week and her baptism is this friday!! I'm so excited for her! Aaaand the coolest part? She has been a little missionary for her family. Her step-dad, who disagrees with the mormon religion and wants nothing to do with it, has invited us into their home to teach (he has never allowed them in before), and at first he dismissed himself from everything but now he sits in on most of our discussions AND stays for the opening and closing prayers!! The light of Christ is real and people are drawn to it. Everytime he goes to another room, he ends up coming back for "water" and then asks a bunch of questions on whatever we're teaching! Haha it's so awesome! He's coming to the baptism and hopefully to church the next day to see her confirmed! AH!

We are teaching a lotttt and it is so great. Tonight we have more appointments then time so we are going on splits for the first time. I don't know why this makes me nervous but ahhhhh. Pray for me haha.

Yesterday I just happppppppppened to run into a stray college girl yesterday while I was at church! I SAW MIRANDA and it made me so so so sooo happy. Aaaaand I met the boy"friend" she was with and he was so cute! Ah, it was so fun to see a familiar face from home. I forget how long it's been since I've seen someone I knew. 

YOU GUYS. Burley makes some of the best food. Because I'm in farming country... people know how to grow a serious garden and I WILL learn their ways. This week I had THE BEST apple pie of my liiiiiiiiiiiiiife. Like I'm not even kidding. I don't even like pie but this was like a dream. I've never tasted anything like it. I bet Stone's going to have the same experience in Kenya. Ha. 

Oh... and the subject line? Jungle feva withdrawls: when you read in the scriptures "lebron" instead of "lebanon" hahaha i miss my brown boys. but no worries... i have found a way to cope without sunday night slow jamz and such ..... THIS IS MY JAM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qawgKIbJ4Ws

your welcome. your hooked. i know. it speaks to my soul.

also, I have to ask, FAMILY.... how is your missionary work coming? there are families out here in idaho, where it's like 80% mormon, FINDING people to teach. you guys are in florida and everyone we know isn't mormon so INVITE PEOPLE to our house. I've learned that we make ourselves too much of the equation... this is the LORDS work and HIS gospel. He doesn't expect us to know everything and be able to say all the right things but he expects us to keep His commandments so that we are worthy of the spirit and then to open our mouths. The spirit is what teaches, not us. The Lord is calling each of us to be missionaries. We are so lucky to have so many people to share it with every day in Florida. I've realized I could've been a waaaaay better missionary. Goodness, take me back. This gospel is here to bless everyone and all we have to do is invite others and LOVE them. No matter what. 

i love you all SO much and miss you like crazy. i pray for you always and hope this finds you well!! 

xoxo, 

sister ramsey

What the Hail?

subject line? i'm soaking from a mini hail storm that I just rode my bike through... I LOVE #MISSIONLIFE

   Soooo so many things happen in a week on a mission... I hope I have enough time to type everything out. First, DAD. I love you so so much!! The flowers that you sent me were so beautiful and JUST what I needed. I came home and got so happy I started crying! I put a letter in our mailbox the next day for you, but we check the mail Saturdaynight aaaaand it was still there. SO hopefully it goes out today... really I love you so much!

   This week I've been studying a lot about the Christlike attributes of faith and hope. I have received so much revelation from the Lord and it has helped me so much. I know that when we go to the Lord with real questions, and we seek out real answers... the scriptures start to become alive. I know that when we are seeking the Lord's guidance, he is going to speak to us through the scriptures, not necessarily with what we read exactly, but with what the spirit teaches us as we read. It's the coolest thing.

   Last night was EASILY the highlight of my mission so far. Everyone told me that there would be someone I would meet on my mission that I was supposed to meet... to be honest I kind of thought everyone was BSing me, trying to get me excited for Idaho. But IT HAPPENED. I know without a doubt I was supposed to meet the Winmill family. I had no idea that it would happen so soon on my mission but I am so glad that it did! 

   

   Brother Winmill is our ward mission leader and he and his wife have five kids, four boys and one girl {they are 24, 21, 18, 15 (Brooke he's cute, but I heard you're in love haha), and 12} and we had the best family home evening with them last night. When Bro Winmill asked us to come over and share somethin with his boys last Sunday, it was on my mind all week. His boys remind me a lot of Stone and what he's been through...and I think all baseball players have the same.... "swag" ...I guess haha. During my studies this week, I was prompted with what to share with the boys and then Bro Winmill shot us a text on Sunday, saying he wanted us to teach one of the missionary lessons, but to let us be inspired as to which one. I knew immediately, and before we went over, I had some time on my own, while Sis Wright was meeting with the mission doc. The spirit was consuming me... I could noooot stop shaking. Partially because I'm always freezing but I knew our FHE was going to be awesome because I was feelin the spirit. We sat down together and decided to sing "give said the little stream" which they said later, that was the first time they had all sang that as a family in probably ten years and that it was special. Sister Wright let me teach the lesson and it was awesome. I told them it was going to be less of a lesson and more of a discussion and I don't think it could've gone any better. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ and it was awesome. All the boys were getting so involved and sharing their testimonies and insights on the scriptures we were reading... gosh. I wish you could've felt it.

   

   Then after, for me was probably the most meaningful. Bro Winmill put his hand on my arm and sincerely thanked me for my testimony and for being on a mission. He told me that was exactly what they needed and he couldn't've asked for a better FHE lesson. Sister Winmill then shared with me the experience she had when we met for the first time. She said that when she came up the stairs and saw me sitting at the counter, that it was like her soul recognized me. I knew when I met her, there was something familiar and just knew that I loved her already. She said she felt like I recognized it too, because when we made eye contact, it was like "hey! where have you been? I've been waiting for you." IT ALL CLICKED. We all were in tears. Cody (their oldest) knew he was supposed to meet me and he said the minute he saw us, he knew..."these missionaries...they're gonna get me." I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this family. 

  

   I think one of the coolest parts of being on a mission is realizing that this whole thing is SO MUCH BIGGER than YOU. It's learning that our God is a detail-oriented God. Last night... being a small part in someone's big picture was so incredible to me. The Lord worked through so many people to help get me on my mission, so that I could come here to Idaho and help someone else. I know that this is not my mission. The Lord prepared me to be in Burley. And Iknow this is exactly where I'm meant to be. 

   STONE. You report WEDNESDAY. I am so so so excited for you. What is your MTC address? You better write long e-mails. YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE YOUR MISSION. People are being prepared for you... and YOU have been prepared for them. Believe that.

Okay okay I'm running out of time. Tweet of the week? {we're standing outside and talking to an investigator...}

 "ummm... I'm sorry. Are those COWS mooing in the background??" "Oh ya... it's harvest season." #onlyinIdaho

In case you were wondering, I've already had some embarrrrr bike incidents. Bike and skirts were not made for each other... but it sure does keep it interesting. 

I love you all SOOOOO much! I can't wait till we're all reunited and swapping mission stories. Missionary work is the best work!!

xoxo, 

sister ramsey

ps: sorry i don't know everyone's email. i love and miss everyoneeeee!