Missionary work is fan freaking tastic!

Goodness I love this gospel. My testimony is stronger than it ever has been. This week was a week of so many appointments falling through it was crazy.... But the Lord always has better plans for us!! I love it so much. And I think I am becoming obsessed with studying the scriptures.... I can never get enough in the mornings. 

My fantastic daughter Sister Haynie just wants to be just like me and sometimes when she answers the phone she will say, "Hello this is Sister Ranck!" Haha and she doesn't even realize until I Point it out to her. Bless her:) 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK!!: 

We were watching the district as part of the 12 week program for new missionaries, and one of the Elders is really good looking (No worries my heart is sealed.... But eyes peeled... ;) ha one of the MTC teachers said that), and we both were thinking it, and to avoid saying it Sister Haynie said instead..... 

"His symmetry is fantastic!" 

Margret and Elizabeth

I legit died............ Okay it was really funny in the moment. 

On Wednesday we went to London for the 3 week missionary meeting and it was so good but super humbling as well. The closer you come to God you realize more and more how flawed you are, and how much you truly need Jesus Christ. In our mission lately we have been focusing on of course helping bring souls unto Christ, but even more important becoming truly converted ourselves. Something Elder Holland said when he came to our mission that has really stuck with me was something along these lines....

"You all want your investigators to come to church, to read the scriptures, and pray for answers..... Well the Lord wants you to do the same thing. YOU ARE THE LORDS INVESTIGATORS." 

I loved that so much! And at the meeting on Wednesday I felt very humbled as I thought about the covenant I made at baptism to always remember my Savior Jesus Christ... And how every week I renew that covenant when I have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament. Well I was thinking about it on Wednesday....... How often am I actually thinking about Christ during the day??? Yup. You would think as a missionary that you always are, but in all reality I don't. That is something I really want to work on this week is thinking of Him always! And I hope you all will do the same! :)

Anne

This week we also had a fantastic district meeting! I love my district! All the elders are fantastic.... Such goofs but they each have such powerful testimonies and are such great examples of humility. Elder Castillion from the Netherlands, he is the most humble person I have ever known in my entire life with the biggest smile. Elder Nakomaha from a small island by Fiji, wow. No words to describe the amount of faith this Elder has. At district meeting we had a testimony meeting, and he told us how he is the only member in his family and one day he was at church when his father came in with a gun and told him he needs to leave now or else he will shoot the members. Oh my goodness... Can you imagine? Talk about faith...... And now he is serving a mission. Then there is Elder Haysman from Australia, hahaha he is the funniest Elder. Oh my I love this kid. GOODDAYY MATE! Elder Bastian is from Mauritious and is such a sweet Elder! He is one of the most consecrated and humble missionaries I have ever met. So funny too:) Elder Isaksen is from Norway! Ha he is a good elder:) and then there is thee Elder Ramsay from Utah....... Oh my he is the most American American in the mission and goodness Sister Haynie and I just love quoting him. Here is a typical Elder Ramsay sentence... "I am just livin the dream man livin the dream! Missionary work is fan freaking tastic! Son of a mother duckling!" And so many others. Today we are going bowling so that should be fun:) I will take videos for next week.

I LOVE working with less active members... And there are many in this ward. This week we saw one who is named Jean. Before we went there when planning what to say, I said something like..... "Goodness with people like her I just want to be like..... Get yourself together girl and get to church

Don't leave your iPad unlocked with Elders around!

and do this, etc etc etc!!" Boy did I need to repent after that.... Because we went to see her and she is the most lovely lady and will just talk your ear off for hours. Well come to find out, she has been a lifelong member but inactive for 20 years. As she was telling us her story, she was telling us about how much she absolutely LOVES the church. She then started crying when she shared about how it pains her so much that she is not able to come and live the gospel like she wants to, and knows she needs too. She suffers from some horrible phobias, which some people may say is an excuse, but not for this woman. You could see so strongly how hard life is for her and how she wishes so badly she could do that simple thing to attend church on Sunday's, but mentally she is unable to. 

I seriously repented that night as I thought about how wrong I was to judge her. That experience taught me such a great lesson... Before you say anything about anyone (which you shouldn't be saying it in the first place), make sure you actually fully understand their situation and what things they are dealing with. Even if you know that, that still doesn't give you the place to judge because we have no idea what is in their heart. Only the Savior does. And how does the Savior feel about us? Boy does he love every single one of us! No matter who we are, what we look like, OR what we have done. 

George and Suzanne

One other less active couple we see weekly... George and Suzanne. I just love them so much! George has been a member ever since he was 9, and Suzanne isn't a member, but they have been inactive for 10 years because of their horrible health problems. I wish I could describe to you the magnitude of what Suzanne is experiencing. She has the most horrible skin disease I have ever seen. All up her legs and arms, and just being around her absolutely crushes my heart just seeing how much pain she is in constantly. And over the past 3 weeks it has been getting worse and worse. I had the privilege yesterday of going with two of the priesthood brethren in the ward to give her a blessing. Goodness what a sweet blessing she received from the Lord. I am so incredibly grateful for the healing power of the priesthood. Sister Haynie and I stayed with them for the next 2 hours and Suzanne said before we left, "you know, despite everything going on, I feel so lucky to have such great friends." She thanked us earlier that day for being her friends and family, as she literally has no one else besides George. 

My heart just hurts when I think about her and what she has been asked to go through in this life. I am just so incredibly grateful for my Savior. I wish we (including myself) could all understand the magnitude really of what he did for each of us. We are so ungrateful and complain and murmur, etc etc. if only we truly could see with Spiritual eyes! Oh how much happier we would be.

I love this work so much. My heart breaks every time people reject the truth or knowingly disregard it. It breaks my heart even more when I see young children and teenagers who just simply don't know any better because that is the way they were taught. I loved growing up in Utah, but boy are we sheltered from the world there. And I am so grateful for it in many ways:) I cannot get over how blessed I am, as well as all of you, to have the truth. To have the words of eternal life!! 

God knows all. And he loves us all perfectly:)

Some videos for this week:

Family Home Evening
Oh No.  A Spider!

GOD BLESS.

ONWARD AND UPWARD!!

Sister Ranck