Yes I have definitely fallen asleep while my companion has been praying

Oh my days guess what I am officially HALFWAY through my mission on Wednesday. AH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I want to cry. I love it here! Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO MY LITTLE BROTHER ADAM. He is turning 15.. you know what that means.... stay off the roads. 

This week was a very interesting week! It was kind of a long week and many appointments canceled so we did quite a bit of walking. All of my shoes that I came out with are pretty much completely worn down... seriously we walk so much its crazy. You all should be so grateful you have a car!

Yeah so the week was pretty long, but Friday was probably the most exciting day of the week! Okay so we usually weekly plan every Friday morning, and that is for 3 hours. We always start this planning session with like a 30 minute prayer and pray for every one that we are working with.... (Yes I have definitely fallen asleep while my companion has been praying before.... haha) well during the prayer we got two calls, so after when we went to check, it was the Gillingham Elders, Elder Packer and Nakomaha.... So we call back and it was actually Elder packer and Elder Ramsay and they were like... "Sisters we are coming to Rainham to do a blitz (a blitz is when lots of missionaries do finding in one area to find more people.) with you guys and we will be there soon!!!" ....... Umm excuse me??? Flipping heck Elders. Ha yeah so we ended up having to postpone weekly planning and go to Rainham.

So we get to Rainham and they tell us that we are going to split up. So for the first 30 minutes I was with Elder Packer finding in town centre. But no worries because we were always in sight and sound of the other two! Actually I really liked doing this because it's a chance to learn from new people!

Oh my days Elder Packer asks the funniest questions I was dying. Here are just a few classic examples....

"Would you like to have free lessons on Mormons?"....... after the person said no, he looked at me and said.... "that was the stupidest question I have ever asked." hahaha

"What do you usually do on Sunday?"

......... *as she is walking away* "I just like to relax!"

*He yells back* "Would you like to relax at church?"

haha I was dying! 

Well we ended up stopping this guy who was carrying a bike helmet and just talked to him briefly about biking, then he left. Well like 15 minutes later he comes back and shows us his bike and for the

next 20 minutes we have such an amazing conversation with him about Jesus Christ! He is a born again Christian but we showed him the scripture in Alma 7:12, and the Spirit was so strong it was amazing! We told him about what makes our church different from all of the other Christian churches and Elder Packer then testified of the atonement and asked when we could see him again. He looked down and thought about it........... And thought about it.......... And thought about it......... For 5 minutes. We just sat there in silence while the Spirit touched our heart and I know it touched his too. Then finally he said that he doesn't think he wants to change churches........... Oh my it broke my heart! I KNOW that he felt the Spirit testify to him that what we said was true. But we all have our agency to choose whether or not we want to act on those promptings.

Yes so after that hour of finding we went to Tesco to get lunch and oh my days. I just can't help but laugh when I think about it. We were meandering through Tesco not finding anything that sounded good when Elder Packer makes the decision to get Apple pie and vanilla ice cream. So yes we had apple pie and vanilla ice cream for lunch. Oh my I love those two elders. After we left Sister Mathews and I just looked at each other and wondered what the heck happened the last 3 hours of our lives. Haha good times.

President Emailed me last week and told me that he really felt strongly that I needed to stay in this area for one more transfer. I have been really praying hard that I can fulfill my purpose here and do all that the Lord needs me to do. I truly love these people! The less active families we are working with are progressing really well! That makes me so happy:) Helping people to discover the blessings of the gospel has been my greatest joy.

Here are a few quotes that I really like this week that I wanted to share......

"Jesus’ statement “Come and see” provides both an invitation and a promise to all people everywhere. Come to Him; see Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords; recognize in Him the great Messiah who will come again with healing in His wings, to set His people free. He will wrap you about in the cloak of His redeeming love, and your life will be changed forever."

-Alexander B. Morrison

"From all the distant places of sin and alienation in which the children of the Father find themselves, it has always been the work of Christ (and his disciples) in every dispensation to gather them, heal them, and unite them with their Master”

-Jeffery R. Holland

I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

Click here for a video of Autumn in England

ONWARD AND UPWARD.

GOD BLESS.

Sister Sara Ranck

Thanks for the Fall Package Mom

We long for the ultimate blessing of the Atonement--to become one with Him

I think my week can be described with the lack of pictures! haha I don't even know what happened this week, but what I do know is that I am just really happy! I am tired all the time, and the weather decided to take a turn and it was freezing this week, my feet hurt a lot because we walk so much, but I seriously am just so happy. I can't even describe it! I just love the gospel so much and I love being a missionary! Ah I could just cry!!! 

Yeah so the sun doesn't really show much around here anymore.... It doesn't get light till about 830 in the morning and starts getting dark at like 530... and supposedly it will get worse as well. but we are always reminded by my favourite Australian Elder (my good friend Elder Haysman) to enjoy the sunshine as he asks everyone we pass, even on the most miserably cold and wet days, if they are enjoying the sunshine...... Some people laugh and say, "What sunshine?" While others just storm away to sulk in their own misery rather than choosing to be happy despite the circumstances. I

think there is a great life lesson to be learned here! Even when lives darkest clouds consume us, don't forget to enjoy the sunshine. Because even though you may not be able to see Him (Jesus Christ), because of Him you can see everything else!!!........ Woah that was deep. So lets choose to be happy my friends:)

The week was good. It was also long. haha but the weekend was really great! On Saturday we had another lesson with the part member family we are teaching and oh my days I just love them. Those lessons are always super stressful! But the Spirit takes over so much it is incredible. They have been like my "project" ever since I have been in this area, and I am super excited for this amazing family! We will see how things go this transfer:)

We also have been working with a less active family from Nigeria...., and they haven't come to church for over a year, but they came this Sunday and had a really good time! Ahh that was really nice to see them there:) We also had a crazy Sunday because they had a bishop change in the ward.

They decided though to announce it last week to invite all of the members to be there to sustain the new bishop, and there were over 100 people there in the chapel. I have never seen the chapel so full! It was a great Sunday. We had a munch and mingle afterwords which was fun as well! I love this ward so much. The members are absolutely hilarious and we are like their little girls. haha they really take care of us!

My friend Suzanne... the lady with the horrible health, she has been in the hospital and she wanted us to come to visit her. We had to call President Stevens to get permission as it was out of our area. So we called and asked and he of course said yes, and then in the background we heard Sister Stevens say, "You are lights to the world!" Goodness I wish I could just describe her to you, but I honestly have never met anyone more full of love than Sister Stevens. Wow I sure love them! 

So yeah we went to the hospital on Sunday afternoon to visit Suzanne... Wow she is amazing. She got so happy when we got there and we drew her pictures and wrote her letters and she cried. Us an George are literally all she has, and she just kept saying, "I feel so loved! You are right Sister Ranck, Jesus does have a special place in His heart for me!" I think Sisters moved into this area when we did just for Suzanne.

The Stake President spoke on Sunday and he had some really good one liners that I am going to share with you all...... Some food for thought you could say.

"The Gospel is true brothers and sisters, are we true to the gospel?" 

"God loves you just the way you are.... But he wants you to change!"

The way we change is through constant application of the gospel, constantly trying. As we do this,

we will end up becoming like Him, so we can one day feel comfortable in His presence.

And to end with a quote I love by James E. Faust...

"We long for the ultimate blessing of the Atonement--to become one with Him, to be in His diving presence, to be called individually by name as He warmly welcomes us home with a radiant smile, beckoning us with open arms to be enfolded in His boundless love. How gloriously sublime this experience will be if we can feel worthy enough to be in His presence!"

Isn't that the most beautiful thing you have ever heard? I love this gospel so much and I love my Saviour more than words. His arms are open, embrace them!

ONWARD AND UPWARD!

GOD BLESS.

Sister Sara Ranck

God loves you so much. He cares about you. He wants you to be happy and to succeed.

Well looks like I am going to be taking baths again for the next 6 weeks because THIS GIRL IS STAYING IN GILLINGHAM WITH MY GIRL SISTER MATHEWS. SOO FLIPPING STOKED!!! (If you didn't get the bath reference, our flat doesn't have a shower, just a porcelain cold tub.) AND. Elder Haysman, Davis, Ramsay, Poole, and Nakomaha are all staying too! We are getting one new elder and apparently he is the funniest elder ever. We already have the most hilarious district and I am just so stoked for this transfer!!!!

And WOW I love this ward! It's amazing looking back over the past 2 transfers and seeing all that has happened here in the Gillingham 2 ward. I remember the first day getting here not knowing what the heck to do, being left with 1 investigator, a messy and disorganised area book, and a few names of less actives...... Compared to now where our schedule is so busy that we barely have time to think because of all of the people we are seeing... (Lots of less active members we are working with)! It is just amazing. I wish I could take all of the credit, but I definitely cannot. We have seen great success here in the area all because of our loving and merciful Heavenly

Father, whose goal is our ETERNAL happiness. It has been so amazing seeing how much He loves us all so much. I LOVE being able to be a tool in His hands, and have loved seeing the Spirit work in my life and the life of others! Wow I just feel blessed!!!

I love the members here as well! There are some ladies in the ward that are just my favourite ever! Hahaha everytime I think about them I just laugh! On Saturday we did some gardening for Mary and afterwords we were just talking and I think I was just laughing that entire conversation. She was like, "What is so funny! Why are you laughing at me!" Well the reason I was laughing so hard was because she was like, "Oh, one of my favourite scriptures is 2 Nephi 9:27.........." So we turn to read it and this is what it is.....

"But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!"

And she was just dead serious and said she likes it because it keeps me on the straight and narrow! Then she told us her second favourite scripture which is in D&C 121:22 which says...

"It had been better for them that a millstone had been hanged about thier necks, and they drowned in the depth of the sea."

Wow, this probably isn't even funny to you but you all just need to meet this lady because she is hilarious! 

Ah I just love this ward! I think I was just smiling and laughing all week because it was just a great week! I am just so excited for this transfer! 

Yesterday we had a really great experience with this girl in our ward and her dad! She is a member and he is not, but he is a really spiritual guy! He is from Mauritious as well! So we went there and had a classic English "tea time". Really Poshe English people have tea and cakes everyday around 4, and then don't have dinner until 7. Everyone calls dinner tea anyways... Well Anywho... We had the most classic English "tea" at their house. We had these English scones with this butter cream stuff and strawberries, with red bush tea. (Oh my days I love that stuff. And just for the record it isn't against the word of wisdom:) ). So yeah that was fun and then after he wanted to do this meditation stuff with us... so he had this thing that we listened too and we just closed our eyes and listened for like 15 minutes.... it's fine. I definitely just fell asleep. haha I have never been so tired in my life. I think when I get home from my mission I am just going to hibernate for 2 weeks straight.

Okay remember how last week I told you about Lisa and Aaron, the part member family we are working with? Well we had the most AMAZING lesson with them this week! Ahhhh after the lesson we pretty much floated back to the flat. The Spirit was so powerful and I just love this family so much it's crazy! We have been fasting and praying for them so much. We really feel that this family can really change this ward..... We are seeing them again on Wednesday!!!! 

I just feel so grateful right now. I absolutely LOVE being a missionary. It has been so hard and challenging, you can't even express in words what it is like. But this experience really is changing me. I feel it in myself and am just so incredibly grateful! I love my Saviour so much. I love my Heavenly Father. I love the Book of Mormon. I love our beloved prophet. I feel such a great love for my family and friends back home.... more than I ever have before. I just feel very blessed right now. 

I want you all to know that God loves you so much. He cares about you. He wants you to be happy and to succeed, and He is there to help you every single step of the way, all we need to do is ask! It really is that simple. 

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!

Click Here for a video of a crazy hand shake with Elder Ramsay.

Click Here to see if Sister Ranck can be quiet.

ONWARD AND UPWARD.

GOD BLESS.

Sister Sara Ranck

I know Jesus Christ Knows Us Each Individually and Perfectly

What a beautiful sunny week in England.... God has blessed us literally all week with the sun!! It has been fantastic:) I think he is preparing us for the longest, coldest, and darkest winter of my life. It gets dark at like 330 in the winter here...... Wonderful. Seriously though. I don't think I have ever seen as much sun than I have in the past week. It's true..... English people LOVE talking about the weather! Conversations always come back to the weather, not because there is nothing else to talk about, it just happens!

Here are some other interesting things I learned this week.... So EVERYBODY AND THEIR DOG knows about the Osmonds here and immediately connect Mormons to the Osmonds. And no joke, one of the Osmond boys served their mission here in England AND served in this ward..... ha crazy huh. Some people remember meeting him on the streets and will mention that. Anywho... there is a fun fact for the week.

One more crazy thing... Guess how much gas is... or as they would call it... petrol..... Well they do it in liters and it is in pounds, but when you convert it their gas costs around $8 a gallon... ridiculous huh! But to be fair they have smaller cars and don't drive as far as we do! But still crazy.

When I come back to England I am DEFINITLY going to Canterbury... When you are there you just feel like you are in England. It is so beautiful! We have been there like 5 times in the past month for meetings and p day and what not. It is a beautiful place:)

AND OH MY DAYS HOW ABOUT GENERAL CONFERENCE THOUGH??! Talk about a spiritual overload. It was awesome. I truly loved every second of it!! We watched it at the chapel and the first session is live at 5 on Saturday and then we watch the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning on Sunday.. and I haven't watched the Sunday afternoon yet. Probably today sometime!  

This week was such a fantastic week! I love serving here in the Gillingham 2 ward. It is just really cool to see how 2 months ago when I got to this area, I didn't know where I was and didn't know anyone here, and the elders didn't leave us like anything... So we had no teaching pool or anything, and now we barely have time to see everyone that we need to see every week!!! Our schedule is crazy! Like literally this week we are completely booked every hour of the day already.... God is so in this work and he loves us so much. Transfers are next week... and I am hoping that Sister Mathews and I stay together one more transfer! I love the people here and don't want to leave yet. I think Sister Mathews and I have the same brain too... Literally all the time we just take the words out of each others mouths and it is kind of scary actually. It's funny because we are just the exact opposite. It's fun to think about if you would be friends with your companion back home.. and honestly I probably wouldn't have been. Haha not because I don't like them, just because we are all so different. But force us to spend 24/7 together for at least 6 weeks.., and you just grow to love these girls! It's great I love it. 

But I do miss all my girls at home!!! You know who you are! <3

We saw lots of amazing people this week. We saw my favorite filipino girls.... Elizabeth and Mara.

Goodness I just love them. When we told Mara that transfers was coming up, she got super sad.... :( That is thee hardest part about missionary work in my opinion. You grow to love these people so much and then you just leave! But good thing your heart can never be too small, and it just keeps expanding with every person you meet. These relationships are ones that will truly last forever!

Every Monday night we have family home evening at the Stockers, (Traci, Anais, and Brandon...) And oh my days it is a party every time. This Monday we played the skittle game where you take two skittles out of the bag and if they match colors, you can swallow them, but if they don't, you have to just keep them in your mouth and you can't chew them.. it was hilarious and I think I was sick after that.

We saw George and Suzanne also this week... Okay they are the greatest example of the atonement. I just want to cry every time I see Suzanne because she just physically looks like she is in so much pain all the time.... She isn't even a member, but they have a picture of Christ on their wall and she was saying that she always has long chats with God. She is such an example of faith. It amazes me so much! 

Friday we had a lovely service opportunity and rubbed tobacco off of someone's walls..... Haha welcome to England my friends. It was horrible, but it was really nice to be able to serve someone who isn't able to do much on her own, and it wasn't her fault that her grand kids always come and smoke in her home. I truly am the happiest when I completely forget about myself and focus on someone else.

Tobogganing with some of the Elders (Haysman and Davis)

and the ward mission leader

Friday night we had such a great miracle!!!!!! We had an appointment with a part member/less active family... The dad is a member and the mom isn't, and they have 3 lovely little girls under 6. So I saw them once last transfer and it went okay, we were just building the relationship with them, and it was kind of awkward the first time when we were there and we didn't really know how to bring up the gospel with them without being like, "so why don't you come to church??" Hah I would never say it that way anyways... But it was just kind of a weird situation and you just have to know their personalities for it to make sense. But any who... All week long I have been praying for this lesson specifically, that we would be able to casually find our way into a gospel conversation, God sure answered that prayer. And it wasn't even awkward! It went so well!!!! The mom had some really great questions and they even said we can come back and we can discuss more! We testified of the

blessings of the gospel and the Spirit was really powerful!!!  So stoked on life right now. WOW I just love missionary work. 

Alright, now back to conference. Wow, wasn't it just AMAZING. I feel so much the faith of the

apostles and prophets, just pleading with us to rise up and become valiant and courageous disciples of Christ.

The overall message I personally got from conference was to.....

RISE UP, FORTIFY YOUR FAITH, AND FIGHT THE BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR LUKEWARM CONVERSION IN THIS DISPENSATION.

We need to be better and stronger than we were before. My favorite talk was from the first session by Larry Lawrence..... I am trying to take his council to heart and ask myself every day, "What lack I yet?" "What can I improve today to become more like my Savior?" 

I truly love and sustain our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson. Please pray for him! The Spirit filled my soul as he spoke. He truly is the Lords consecrated and faithful servant on the earth, literally withering away in the service of our God. 

This week I pray that we may all rise a little higher and serve in our own callings with more faith and courage... Whether our calling be a father, mother, brother, sister, friend, teacher, and ultimately a disciple of Christ. God and Satan are in a battle for our hearts... WE choose who is going to win that battle. ACTIVELY CHOOSE JESUS CHRIST EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF YOUR LIFE. 

All God wants is for us to be happy.

I know He loves us. I know we have trials because He loves us. I know Jesus Christ knows us each individually and perfectly. 

ONWARD AND UPWARD.

Click here to see a spider video.

Click here to see crazy missionaries in London singing the National Anthem.

GOD BLESS.

Sister Ranck

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUT TO MY HIP, STYLISH, AND CUTE OL' GRANNY!!!