Week 22

June 17, 2013 

Family!

First Spanish FHE group this week: At the last minute there were several people who bailed on us, but we got one active member, one less active, and an investigator who came late. I was so stressed out trying to get it all together, but I'm sure happy that we were able to pull it off. All thanks to the Spanish Elders who lived in Clarksville, TN who brought a couple of people to support the group as well. Building blocks to a Spanish branch in hopkinsville. 

Also,we are teaching these three guys from El Salvador. THEY ARE HILARIOUS. We have really started to focus on one investigator in particular. His name is Angel and he has been in the states for about a year. He has an amazing story about how he made it from here to there. Anyways, one of our first visits with him we were closing the lesson and taking about if we could keep in contact with him through our cell phone. Then he asked us a question, which I had been dreading to hear... Anyways, he said something and all Hermana Healey and I understood through our broken Spanish was the word "novio" we looked to each other like uh, oh... We asked him to repeat himself a couple of times and he was just asking if it would be alright for him to text us. He didn't want to get in trouble with our "novios" or anything. It was a funny contact. The other day we were teaching him again and we asked him how old he was. He told us he was 21 and we were both taken back.  We guessed early twenties, but didn't think he was our same age. Then later we were talking and he asked about going to church. Then he looked at me and was like, "After I get baptized I'll go to your church and "nos casamos" I looked at Hermana Healey and she was confused. She doesn't know that much Spanish vocab as I do from my 4 years of high school spanish. It was really funny. He is such a flirt! But Hermana Healey and I like to call him and another investigator "our star student" because they are progressing. Speaking of progressing investigators, it is such a challenge to get our investigators to attend chruch. Hermana Healey and I have been working really hard to try and get a June baptism before President McKee leaves, but if we can't get our investigators to church, we can't baptize them. Angel has taken the lessons fantastically so far and he has expressed to us his desire to be baptized. I don't know what we are going to do. We fasted today and we have prayed a lot. The June baptism goal was a challenge given to us by the mission presidency, and we know that if he gave us a challenge he was giving it to us by the spirit. That tells us that there is a way. 1 Nephi 3:7. I'll keep you updated next week our June goes for us. We are teaching Angel this evening 

We have been challenged by our zone to approach awkward teaching situations. Last week when I was on splits with an English sister we gave a book of mormon to the lady at mcdonalds on the other side of the drive thru window. Book of Mormon in exchange for some ice cream... pretty good trade if you ask me. 

The other night Hermana Healey and I contacted these two Spanish guys drinking beer outside of their house. They probably had ten bottles around them and were listening to some ghetto hispanic music from their car.. TWO NEW INVESTIGATORS! Juan and Luis... those names are orginal, right? That makes for three Luis investigators that I've had now... haha. And I don't know what it is but all of me and Hermana Healey's real success is coming from our male investigators. They have been a lot more open to us and love to tease us and always invite us back. Where as all of the hispanic women we work with are pretty cold to us... kind of a funny thing that we have going for us.... Anyways, teaching males means potential priesthood holders and that is what you need to start a branch, right?

I love Hermana Healey! She is seriously a gem! Always willing to work, always willing to smile and go into awkward situations. I have found that since I've been training I do a lot more of the talking in our teaching and contacting situations. Most of that is because of my Spanish, but we went on splits last week and she stayed in the area and I left. I left her to our El Salvadorian investigators and she led a whole lesson without me! I just need to work on giving her more opportunities to let her open her mouth and develop her Spanish as well. I'll be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time, but I fake it til I make it... especially with Spanish! 

So I went on splits to Princeton, KY. I went with an English sister to her area and we hit a lot of small towns that they work in.... Cadiz, Fredonia... and when I say small town. It is small town! Small town, Kentucky drama is a hoot! Wow! My favorite quote from the exchange was this lady who was talking about how her mom's neice had an affair with her dad while her mom was passing away. After the dad died he married this lady. They were married for four years. So that means that this lady's cousin married her dad and became her step mom. Well when the dad passed away, a day after the funeral this lady hooked up with her brother... ew. they were cousins! Anyways, I loved Jennifer's comment, " I know we live in KENtucky, but it is Kentucky K-E-N, not K-I-N." Then when she said when she sees that lady again "God don't got her days numbered. I do." Anyways, I went up to the heart of Kentucky and it was a hoot. Every contact was an adventure!

Well, I've got to peace out, but I hope this email had a lot more meat to it than the others. Love you. I appreciate your prayers. They go a long way!

Que Dios les bendiga!

Con Amor!

Hermana Rich

"Choosing Jesus is a decision you will never regret."

"No matter who is president, Jesus is king"

"Let Jesus calm your trobled waters" (they had a typo there.....)

"God will reign, but the son will shine" (Think about that one, pretty clever, eh?)

Week 21

June 10, 2013

 

FAMILIA!!!!

 

Last night Hermana Healey and I had the hardest rejection of our life. I will just call our investigator "she-who-must-not-be-named." Anyways, I felt like something smelled pretty nasty and then after Hermana Healey told me that "she-who-must-not-be-named" was drunk. It all makes sense when we put it all together. It was ROUGH. We had a good cry and a good laugh after that one, but mostly a laugh to cover up the hurt.

 

Anyways, I told Dad about Sister Fletcher! That was AWESOME!!

 

Lots to do in Hopkinsville! We will be holding our first Spanish group night tomorrow. Please pray for us! This will be the predecessor to hopefully starting a Spanish Branch in Hopkinsville!

 

I have lots to tell you and unfortunately.... never enough time.

 

On another note, I guess a funny story..... we have quite a few investigators who beleive in the trinity, right? Well, the other day Sister Healey goes off talking about the trilogy.... and I think to myself? what are you talking about? We later discoved she meant to say trinity, trilogy, get it? Yeah, sorry it is not that funny.

 

Love y'all!

 

Hermana Rich!

Week 20 Hoppin' Hopkinsville

June 3, 2013

Sounds like lots happening to the family right now! Again, I don't have a lot of time to write this week, but I love you and I'm so incredibly grateful for all of your prayers. I'm working on getting myself "lost in the work" and everyday I realize how much more I'm forgetting about home and how much the work encompasses my every thought.

Hermana Healey and I are having a great time in Kentucky! I don't think I wrote too much about her last week, but she is also a 2011 graduate. She is from Taylorsville, Utah. She has grown up LDS most of her life... she was baptized at 11 when her and her mom joined the church and her dad was reactivated as a member. We are both 20 and so excited to be serving missions at this time! It is such a crazy thought that there might not have been Spanish missionaries in Hopkinsville, KY had it not been for President Monson's announcement and us responding to the call. I KNOW that Hopkinsville needs us though and I'm so incredibly humbled to be apart of this work that is greater than us. Hermana Healey is a hard worker and I'm so incredibly grateful for her here! I know that she is much needed in this area before she gets her visa to Argentina. I think I should have mentioned this last week, but she is going to the SAME MISSION as my MTC companion, Hermana Sasser. ARGENTINA RESISTENCIA. That means 2 of my 4 companions are going to the same mission, but a different mission than the mission I was called to! I guess we know which mission I would have gone to had not I been called the the greatest mission ever, the Tennessee, Nashville Mission.

Love you all! Hermana Healey and I went to our first Spanish branch yesterday in Clarksville, TN and the spirit was so strong! I have loved serving under English wards since I've been out on my mission because I have felt like there were members whose lives were supposed to touch mine and I in return.

Our baptismal date decided to drop us. That was a hard day for me and Hermana Healey, but we are continuing to work hard and are finding new investigators left and right. Since I now more Spanish I really have to take the lead, but I'm learning how to charm the Spanish population of Hopkinsville, KY! We are working with people from all over- Mexico (that's a given), Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama... did I get them all? Pretty cool, but lots of new accents to learn! Lots of ways we are being stretched by the master's hands. 

Hasta lunes!

Con Amor, 

Hermana Rich

Classic church marquees worth mentioning this week...

"Pray your hardest when it is hardest to pray"

"No matter who is president, Jesus is King"

"Friends don't let friends die without Jesus"

Semana 19

May 28, 2013 Hey Family! I can't even remember what week I am on anymore! Crazy! Week 19! A lot has happened this week, and I'm so sorry that I wrote such a short email last week and I will have a short one this week. I wasn't able to write yesterday because our whole mission was called together for a mission wide conference where our misison president announced he will be leaving this summer as opposed to next. The first presidency called him last week and we will be getting a new mission president. I'm sure it will be in the church news soon, so y'all should look our for President and Sister Andersen from Ogden, Utah who will be my new mission president in July. Actually, that would be really cool if you went to his farewell! Just a thought. I have loved President McKee and he has taught me a lot. I can't even express it. I know that if anything, I was sent to this mission to serve as a missionary under him, even though it may have been for only a short time. His family is inspirational and I won't be suprised if I see him speaking at the next General Conference. I'm excited for President Andersen. I know that he will have something unique to offer to the Tennessee Nashville Misison as well. Just as I prayed my companion, Hermana Healey into Hopkinsville, KY, I will be praying him in as well. Love you family so much. Thank you for all of your prayers and emails. I have so much to say, and so little time to say it all. Kentucky is an adventure everyday. Love you all! Until next week Hermana Rich P.S. Hermana Healey and I set a baptismal date last week! Hurrah for Israel, Pray for Leticia!

Semana 18

May 20, 2013

 

FAMILIA...

 

Just got transfer news and guess who is staying in Hopkinsville, KY and will be training a visa waiter? Super humbled and feeling really priveleged to be able to stay here. There is a lot of work to be done here. Not just for Spanish, but also for English retention. I'm super excited to stay, but also apprehensive and nervous, especially to take over Spanish here. I'm praying my trainee into the area and I think she will be grately needed here. Sorry this one is going to be so short! Love you all, you are amazing! I need lots of prayers here to take over Spanish and train a new missionary!

 

Love you, good luck with end of school year and start of summer!

 

Hermana Kristy Rich

Week 17 Hoptown Kentucy

May 13, 2013

 

Familia!

 

Estoy bien agradecida que yo pude hablar con ustedes ayer. Muchas gracias por su bondad y amor a mi. Era muy bien para ver que ustedes estan seguras and felices!

 

It was really awesome to be able to talk to y'all yesterday! Really good to know that you are all doing well and that you are all safe and sound. Sorry I rambled on last night, but I was really happy to see all of you... although I will admit, "No No" was probably the best looking one!

 

So I remember that I told you about how on Saturday me and my companion soft committed someone to baptism. Man, it felt so good! Hermana McNab and I (now that we are FINALLY moved into Hopkinsville) are really excited to be able to hold on to some of our investigators that we have here in Hopkinsville. Those couple of weeks in Oak Grove were very testing because we felt so purposeless down there because of so many reasons... but we did find a couple of investigators even though they were all English. The other day we were planning on how we would pass them off to the English sisters in Oak Grove and we were pretty bummed to pass them off- even though they weren't all progressing investigators, we had some really good finding experiences with them. Including this guy named James! We "accidentally" found him when we looked at the ward list for Oak Grove and decided to check someone out on the list who was marked less active. We got to the door and it turned out that the guy no longer lived there anymore, BUT we got to meet this guy named James. We left him a mormon.org card with our number and a Book of Mormon to read. He had told us that he had just moved into the area and was actually looking for a church. He had tried a couple of the churches around town and he just wasn't really feeling any of them. He was really friendly and we had a really good contact with him. He said we could come back if he was home. That was about a week ago, but we haven't been back to see him because we wanted to give him a couple of days before trying again.

 

But yesterday, HE TEXTED US. I can't even tell you how many hundreds of people we give our number out to in random contacts, whether they are on Book of Mormons or they are on mormon.org cards. It was awesome, he texted us and thanked us for the material we gave him last week. Hermana McNab and I were elated! While I was video chatting with y'all yesterday she had a really good texting conversation where 1) we have a return appointment with him 2) we discovered that he went to the mormon.org website and really enjoyed it! 3) has questions for us! We were super excited! We told him to feel free to ask his questions until we can see him again on Wednesday. To be honest, we got a little worried that some of the questions were going to be over controversial issues about the church's stance on things... you know you can imagine what some of those things would be. BUT the first question he texted us was "My main question is, how does one join the church? I've never known where to start or how the process works." ARE YOU SERIOUS?! We were super excited! That is definitely a question we can answer as missionaries. :)

 

SUCH A MIRACLE. It is just like I told y'all yesterday. During this transfer I have experienced my highest highs and lowest lows as a missionary! BUT, the lows make my highs so worth it. I feel like we are being tried everyday to be proved how faithful we will be in response to the miracles that Heavenly Father continues to have in store for us.... There are some really good things that can happen here in Hopkinsville. The Lord just needs faithful, obedient missionaries who are willing to do all they can to reap those blessings. Hermana McNab and I adjusted our weekly goals this week and we have the faith to try and set FIVE baptismal dates. Woo, that would be a perfect way to end a transfer! Next week I will be finding out about transfers, so that might be a little nerve racking if I get moved again and we only had one week in our unfurnished apartment... but I'm so excited for all of the wonderful things we have been able to experience here. Highest highs and lowest lows... I read today in Alma 26 and I feel like Ammon boasting in the strength of the Lord as a missionary. Super exciting.

 

I'll keep my head up this week and pray to be apart of the many miracles Heavenly Father has in store for his children in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Those couple of weeks living in Oak Grove were pretty rough at times, but we had to grow a lot and if anything, we found James through living in there. The catch to the story is the English sisters probably wouldn't have found James because they already had marked on their list that the ward member no longer lived at that address anymore! I guess we were supposed to stumble upon him because of our ignorance and I'm so glad we got to see him!

 

Les quiero mucho!

 

Hermana Rica

Week 16 "Getting Lucky in Kentucky"

Hey Family!

 

I hope this email finds you all happy and well. I am so grateful for y'all in my life. The mission has taught me a lot of things, especially in my last three weeks here in Oak Grove. I think it has been the hardest three weeks of the mission, but I have definitely learned the most duing this time.

 

SO we STILL HAVENT GOTTEN OUR APARTMENT IN HOPTOWN. That means that even if we get into this apartment by the end of this week, I will have spent one week in Manchester, over half of my time in Oak Grove and maybe a week and a half in my actual area? haha. Crazy transfer....

 

I have loved living with the English sisters in Oak Grove though, even though Hermana McNab and I are still on the floor living out of our suitcases. I have learned a lot from them and I know that there were lessons I think we were all supposed to learn from each other.

 

This last week I was able to go on splits with Sister Escobar. She is in my Zone and grew up speaking Spanish, but was called English speaking on her mission. It was her first time doing splits in Spanish and it was my first time doing splits at all. "Hermana Escobar" as I like to call her, is an AMAZING missionary though. I learned so much from her in the day and a half we were together than I think we could have imagined. Together we found quite a few new investigators in Hopkinsville and she taught me a lot about how you can be a very obedient missionary and still have a lot of fun. She is almost to her last transfer as a missionary and I can tell that she has had so much fun on her mission, but she has also been a successful missionary because she is so obedient. I loved doing splits with her and I think it was exactly what I needed. She taught me a lot about being bold and confident in our message with people. I have already started to put to practice what she has taught me and I am excited to see how I can grow even more.

 

The other day Hermana McNab and I were driving up to Hoptown from Oak Grove and the drive was beautiful! I will always have a special place for Manchester, but that drive started to convince me that Kentucky is a pretty spectacular place too. I can't remember if I told you this, but my first day when we got to KY we met the Bishop in our ward and he told us that "we were on the right side of the state line. There is Zion... and then Tennessee." It was funny. I really love TN a lot, but I get the feeling I might be in KY for a couple of transfers to build up the Spanish group here in Hoptown, so we'll see how I feel in a couple of more weeks.

 

The work has been split between Hopkinsville and Oak Grove. This last week we got 9 new investigators, taught 18 other lessons and taught a total of 28 lessons! It was a miracle. Most of that was because we were doing out work in Hopkinsville where there is quite a bit of less active and potentials to check out on the Spanish list. It was amazing though! I don't think me and Hermana Smith ever had numbers like that when we were in Manchester. It felt sure good to see the numbers to reflect our hard work this last week. The mission teaches you in our lowest lows, and your highest highs. Roller coaster of emotions everyday!

 

Hopefully Hermana McNab and I will be getting into our aparments this next week! But who knows, we might still have more lessons to learn from the English sisters we are living with. I'm not sure how I will call you next week because I don't know if we will be in Hoptown or in Oak Grove... I know if I am at a members house we can probably try a gmail chat if one of the members has one? It might be cool to see Nolan on chat and to see how big he has been getting.

 

I remember that last transfer I did a couple of funny things I had seen around TN email, so here are a few things I have experienced since I've been in KY:

 

- Never in my life have I seen so many ghetto cars. There are these 70 looking cars with giant tires all around here in Oak Grove. Hermana McNab and I were tracting the other day and this ghetto car blasting music passed us FOUR TIMES within one mile. It was really entertaining

-Never in my life have I seen horse and buggie signs on a freeway, then actually see horse and buggies crossing the freeway..

-Never in my life have I seen so many cop cars as I do in Oak Grove, KY. and never in my life have I had them come up to us and talk to us about not being out too late preaching

-Not nearly as many people say y'all out here in KY, at least out here where I am. It is sad... but I'm trying to hold on to my Southern accent :)

-As I hate to admit it, all Walmarts are still considered equal, whether you are in Utah, TN or KY

 

Well, I will continue to grow my list about the funny things I see out here in the Bluegrass state. Love you all. Can't wait to talk to you soon next week!

 

Con Amor,

 

Hermana Rich