Oh What Joy this Sentence Gives, I Know that My Redeemer Lives.

Sister Barbosa and Sister Ranck

Being a missionary just gets better and better each week!!!! Like for reals, every week I just love it even more!!!! Even when you are really sick and are coughing like crazy and have a sore throat....  BUT THEN EASTER AND CONFERENCE ARE IN THE SAME WEEKEND AND NOTHING ELSE EVEN MATTERS!!! IT WAS BASICALLY THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!!! We are soo blessed. AND I KNOW YOU HEAR THIS FROM EVERY MISSIONARY BUT IT IS TRUE. CONFERENCE AS A MISSIONARY IS GREATER THAN GOLD. GOLD ISN'T EVEN THAT GREAT.. BUT BASICALLY CONFERENCE IS THE GREATEST EVER... LITERALLY. 

On Friday our ward put on an Easter Devotional, and Sister Barbosa and I sang in the choir.... AND I don't know how but I got put up to singing a duet with another girl in the ward.... no big deal... there was even a little solo part I had to sing...  I have never sung like that in front of anyone before and there were probably like 100 people there... so scary. But everyone said I sounded fine, but they were probably just being nice.

AND I was sick and fighting a sore throat and cough all week.... Nevertheless God is good and during that hour that we sang, my throat was fine but then the last 5 minutes when the member of the bishopric was sharing his testimony to close the devotional, I had a huge coughing attack right in the middle.... how embarrassing. haha. 

Doing Service

But the Spirit was so strong as we sang. I was very grateful that I had the chance to participate in that program, and reflect on my Savior and truly what a remarkable life he lived. I could go on and on about how incredibly grateful I am for Jesus Christ. I KNOW he lives.

I felt so inspired and uplifted during conference it was amazing. We are so blessed to have such amazing leaders... and I want you all to know that I KNOW that Thomas S. Monson truly is our living prophet today... When he spoke, the Spirit really told me in my heart that he is in fact God's prophet on the earth. Even if there is a group of people who decided to yell that they don't agree when we were sustaining him.... That broke my heart. Pray for him hard this week.

I sustain him. I love him. And I know he truly is a prophet called by God. No doubt about it.

Let's see this past week was goooooood:) Sister Barbosa is so hilarious and we definitely have fun together!!! We did some painting, swinging, teaching, testifying, you know just missionary stuff. But it was great!!!! I'm tellin yah, I don't know how but every week it just gets better!!! 

Here are some facts about England if you are wondering:

• People name their homes here.... no joke. Especially in the little villages... for example, I saw a home that was named... "Sunflower Cottage." They have signs by the front door with the name on it. 
• Springtime is beautiful in England and there are yellow daffodils EVERYWHERE! 
• There are little parks all over the place and we had to make some calls and decided to swing on the swings while doing so. That was basically the best 10 minutes ever.
• There are pubs everywhere.... and we were walking in town last week and our friend Malcolm (recent convert) snuck up behind us and scared us... then he treated us to lunch.. in a pub... no worries eating at pubs is totally normal here. haha. Because there aren't restaurants here on every corner like there are in America.

  

  Fun on the Swings

• Everyone has strong English accents... and everyone tells me they like my accent... 
• People don't celebrate Easter like we do in America! We saw a super lame Easter Bunny in town and took a picture with it! It was with all of the little kids and I asked Sister Barbosa while we were waiting if we really should take a picture... she looked at me and said, "yolo." So we took a picture. 
• Everyone wants to know about the food here... in all honesty it is not much different. Instead of the famous Utah Jello, they have Trifle. Which is basically the same thing just with some kind of vanilla custard stuff. We always have Yorkshire puddings... which is basically just bread. And squash.... not sure how to explain what squash is... it is a very high concentrated drink of any flavor and you add water to it.... and there are lots of fish and chips food places.

Soccer is called Football in England

Well... it finally happened... we missed the bus. After sprinting for a good 10 minutes so we wouldn't....... but it was worth it though because we took a funny video of us sprinting. haha.

P-day yesterday was AWESOME. We went to Aylesbury and hung out with the Elders... Elder Kendall, Elder Wright, Elder Cowan, and Elder Kashari and played chair football!!! Okay that game is so much fun. And we played 3v3 as well.. It felt good to be playing again for a little while. I am super sore today from it though... haha. 

It was a really good week but we aren't really teaching many people right now and have been doing a lot of finding, so I don't have any cool stories to tell! BUT. We have a lot of good potentials and appointments set up for this week that I am really looking forward too:) 

Last Monday we had a conference call with the whole entire mission... every missionary with President and Sister Jordan. How cool is that? Wow that was such a powerful and inspiring 20 minutes!!! President Jordan truly is incredible. He started off by sharing His testimony with us about Christ. The Spirit was so strong. Something that really struck me as he spoke was the reality of God and Jesus Christ. He said that "they are as real as your own parents." Think about that for a moment.

Looking back on the past 2 months of my mission so far, that fact has become so much more real to me. Jesus Christ is REAL you guys. He really did suffer for our sins, pains, sorrows, temptations, sickness, etc etc. That isn't just a made up story, that isn't just a fairytale, it is real. Jesus Christ is REAL. God is REAL. I KNOW that with all of my heart.

I have always loved listening to conference, but I have never had a conference talk hit me with great power... that is until the Sunday morning session 2nd to last talk. Aka Elder Holland. I was so deeply touched by his talk about Jesus Christ. It hit me with the Spirit so strongly that it moved me to tears. I KNOW without any doubt in my mind, that Jesus is the Christ, that He truly suffered for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. And because of Him, we can one day live with our families forever and receive the gift of eternal life. Words cannot even describe my feelings and what I want to say right now adequately. I never understood how much I truly needed a Savior before my mission. And I still do not fully understand. But I am so incredibly grateful for Him and His sacrifice.

He knows you.

He loves you.

He is beckoning to you to, "come follow me."He is there to dry your tears and bring peace to your heart, and help you overcome every trial you face.

"Oh what joy this sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives."

ONWARD AND UPWARD.

Sister Ranck

PS. SHOUTOUT TO MY UVU GIRLS FOR THE LETTERS AND FOR MAKING ME LITERALLY LOL FOR 20 MINUTES WHILE READING AND FOR BEING THE BEST TEAM EVER AND AHHHHH I LOVE UVU SOCCER AND PUUUUSH!!!!! 

Thanks for all the letters!  I love them.