Monday, January 20, 2014

the good, the bad, and the ugly

i don't have a lot of time but this week was a good one! we had a zone conference, and a baptism soooooooo it doesn't get much better then that!! 

Brother Thurman has been coming to church for 15 years and finally made the decision to be baptized, so this long-awaited weekend was just the best. His family was beaming all weekend.... Saturday was the baptism and just about the whole town of Grand View showed up! The chapel was FULL and there was standing room only where the font was. I'm so happy for their family! I just love them!

love places and people who do their own thing and don't care what anyone thinks about it. Grand View, Idaho (population 452), is one of those places. Haha I just love it. It's a small town and everyone knows everyone and they do what they want. While we were in Grand View, we met with the Blank family, and these are people who do their own thing. Haha they are the best. Gary has been inactive for about 30 years and yesterday he committed to get his act together and get back to the temple with his wife and girls. It was awesome. They have so much personality and spunk, I just love them!

We are going to the temple tomorrow, so I'm really looking forward to that. It will be just what I need. I know the Lord knows what we need...the good, bad, and the ugly. We...I've gotta trust in that. We've all gotta have the faith to ENDURE....endure well.

love you all.

xo, 
sister ramsey

Monday, January 13, 2014

missionary B&E


helllllllllllllllo fam bam
 
this week we had a new missionary meeting for sister james and the missionaries in her transfer and it was really great. we watched a video from Elder Holland and my goodness... that man just gets it. if i ever make it to the celestial, i wanna knock on the door of his celestial mansion and tell him . T H A N K . Y O U . seriously.
 
then after our meeting, i got to go on exchanges and stay in twin falls for the night! it was awesome. we had a couple different teaching appointments and i remembered that i love teaching with no pressure, haha. it was a nice reminder that i need to keep being m y s e l f and not get into a rut of trying to be a perfect teacher or missionary, but just to be me with the people we're teaching in Mountain Home, too. the Lord has given each of us gifts and talents and we need to remember to use them.
 
but the fun part about the exchange was i got to stay in this v i l l a of a home. haha it was a circular shaped house and so vintage and the detail in the architecture was so incredible! i loved every part of it! i got to stay on the third floor in this princess diaries-like chamber. spiral staircase and all. in the comfiest kind size bed. it was the best. and the owner was from the island of "man" which is right next to England. she had my favorite accent and i just loved her!
 
awkward moment of our exchange?
 
we drive to another sisters' house to go check up on them because one of them was admitted to the hospital the night prior... sister nettles (my comp for the day) pulls up to the house and says "haha, check me out. i got here without a GPS and I've only been here twice." so we go up to the front door, she knocks, and then starts to walk into the house to go find the sick sisters. we're greeted by dogs, so we're petting them and then we look up and see this man in a beanie, all tatted-up, and sis nettles goes "we came to attack the sisters, are they down stairs?" he replies (with the nastiest look on his face) "um. this house doesn't have a basement. and I have NO IDEA who you people are." hahahahah #thisisawk #soawkward so sister nettles doesn't say a thing and walks out. then he says, "you're lucky i'm not an angry black man." haha WHAT? um. i'm sorry. this is awkward. don't look at our name tag. hahahah i died. seriously could not stop laughing. being a missionary is so freakin funny sometimes.
 
this week I've thought a lot about love, obedience, faith, and hope. i don't know half of what i need to but i'm trying to understand. sometimes i think we expect more from this life then what it's designed. heavenly father wants us to be happy in this life, but he also asks us to have faith, which means we don't have a perfect knowledge. we don't get everything. we're here to be tested and we're here to be taught. we are here to prepare to meet our God, face to face. if we do what He's asked us to in this life, the "perfect life" without pain and hardship... the life that we all want nowwill be ours for the eternities.
 
there is no LOVE where there is no SACRIFICE.
 
love you all.
xoxo,
sister ramsey

Monday, January 6, 2014

"can i get a witness?!"


amen. hallelujah. sign me up. guess who got to be a witness at a wedding this week? this girl. hahaha check that one off the bucket list. remember our islander friend, John, who is investigating the church? HE and his girlfriend got married this week. we raaaandomly woke up to a text that said "we're getting married tomorrow at 3 at the courthouse. come join us..." hahah OKAY! it was so much fun. mostly because it was four of us sisters (sister cluff and her companion came along, too) and one of John's black friends... who said i was a soul sister #streetcred ... and another islander from Guam. they were so funny. and we had a great conversation about the church and when I asked Cyrus if he was going to come to John's baptism he said "Of course. Who knows... I might even join him. I could use all the blessings and help I can get... I don't discriminate against any religions." #yes. where do you live again? haha.. i don't get digits anymore... i get addresses. #creeper #missionaryprobs
 
but honestly john has taught me so much about charity. I've never met anyone like him. he is always doing something for someone else and thinks of everyone else before himself. we stopped by earlier this week and found out that he pawned off his motorcycle to help pay for two people's rent. who haven't spoken to him since...can you believe that?! when he sees someone in need, he does whatever it takes to help them out, even if he doesn't know how it's going to work out. his motorcycle was his PRIDE and JOY. he grew up really, really poor and never had anything nice... his motorcycle was the very first nice thing that he bought for himself and he looooved to work on it and take it out for a ride. he even went riding when it was like 10 degrees outside. and then he would come home and park it in his living room. haha and just like that, he gave all of it up to help someone else out. i was so moved by that and i told him that i came on a mission to learn to be the kind of person that he is. to learn how to turn out. to learn how to be more like our Savior. john encompasses the pure love of Christ unlike anyone I've ever met and it is inspiring to me.
 
this week was really great. new years eve was popppppin. jk we watched prince of egypt as a district and were in by 9, haha. happy new year? actually while we were watching the movie, i got to cuddle with the member's GIANT stuffed animal moose and it that was definitely a highlight. haha what is my life? BUT i love new years because i love renewed goals. what are you guys working on this year? i wanna hear your resolutions!! ALSO i really missed the crepe fest. ugh... best breakfast of the year.
 
we also had a zone conference and it was just what we needed! it inspired me to work harder, and have more faith in finding people who are ready to accept the gospel. a lot of the people we have been teaching are just not progressing or keeping commitments, which stinks.
 
i love you guys and i'm so grateful to have your love and support through all of this! seriously don't know where i'd be without you.
 
xo,
sis ramz
 
ps- okayyyyyyyyyyyy how about bethy's poetry skills? she nailed what's it like out here. LOVE HER.
 
pss- emy looks great pregnant!! and marilyn's house looked so cute! i can't believe i missed her shower! haha never would've guessed that would've happened while i was on a mission. while so many of the "sexies" were on missions. HA- i wish we would've actually done our time capsule.

WEDDING PARTY
my name is forever on their marriage license. hahahah
we got lost... so naturally we took pics
I MILKED A COW #onlyinidaho