Week Sixteen - "Hope you know, I had a hard time"

Dearset Family, 

The Mormon Message that I quoted in the subject is amazing!!! It really means a lot to me, espically after the week that we have had. 

Sadly, this week we had two of our three investigators drop us. One of them was Sharon. She is the elderly sister that lives behind us in our apartment complex. We went to her apartment to see her, and she opened her door and said "You know girls, I dont want to pray anymore. And I hate to be rude, and tell you that I dont want you to come over, but I dont want you to come over. Have a nice day." We told her that she has our number and to call us whenever she needs anything. She then shut the door. :( It was sad. But, the Lord has someone else He wants us to teach. We were just hoping it was Sharon. All is well.

The other investigator that dropped us, was Robin. She was the single sister who was struggling with smoking. We went to her house to give her a get well card. We knocked on the door, and she asked who it was, and we told her the missionaries, and then all was silent. She didnt say a word. We then said that we had a card for her, and she still said nothing. It was really hard. I wasn't there. We were on exchanges, and Sister Young was with another sister. It was really hard. But that is okay. We havent seen her in a couple of weeks. I kinda knew that it was coming. Some other missionaries will teach her :) I just know it :)

Other than that, this week was hard. Every appointment we had it fell through, it was raining and windy all week. It was just tough. We did have some little miracles though :) 

We went to go and see a former investigator, which is someone that other missionaries were teaching, and then the missionaries dropped them, or they dropped the missionaries. So, we went to see one of them. We went to the door, and they answered, and the lady said that she was going to go to Africa for about 2 months, but that we need to come back every week and teach her 20 yr old daughter and 17 year old son. We said okay, and are going to be calling them for a time we can some see them :) It was great :) 

Another thing happened, we had a mini missionary! It was really neat. A lot of the stakes here send out their priests and laurels who sign up on mini missions. They go on a Saturday, and spend the day with missionaries. They get to experience it, and then really decide whether they are going go to on a mission for real, or not. It was way cool, so we had a mini missionary. She was really neat :) We loved having her with us, and we wished that she would have been able to stay longer. But she had school, and church, so that didnt happen. It was great though :) She said she learned a lot, and that she cant wait to go on a mission! It was so much fun! I kinda wish they did that when I was a laurel. It would have been nice to have at least some sort of idea to what I was coming out to. Oh well :)

We did have exchanges this week, as is usual now. I was in the City creek ward, which is the old highland 2 ward. (where our family use to live) It was way neat to go and be there. Sadly, we didn't have success in that ward either... Oh well. We did help set up a reception for a temple wedding though :) Sister Blaustein's son David got married this past weekend. It was so much fun to set up for it! I loved it! She told me to tell you hello :) It was great to help her with that :) We also had dinner with the Racardio's. They were so excited to have dinner with me! :) It made me smile. It was amazing to me how much their house felt like home to me. It was really weird. It was nice though :) 

We do have a new investigator. His name is Denis. We met him through another former investigator. He is living in the investigators house with his family. We went over to schedule a time to see him, and he said that he had time then, so we taught him a lesson. It was crazy!! It was way good though :) We enjoyed teaching him :)

Well, I have a funny story this week!! Or more like, two or three. So, first one. When we were at the Racadio's we were teaching them the restoration in 5 mins. I had the great apostasy, and was really focused on what I was going to say. I was thinking of the great apostasy, and went to say it, when the words the great depression came out of my mouth. We all made funny faces, and then I quickly recovered. It was funny :) 

Next story. We were teaching Denis the Restoration, and we were going over when Christ was killed, and so were the 12 apostles, and we thought we were doing really well. Well, Denis's mom was with us, and when we took a breath, she was like, "So you believe that the 12 apostles killed Jesus?" We like freaked out! It was so funny! hahaha We couldn't even believe that she thought that was what we believed. It was way funny. We did clarify what we believed. It was good :) 

The last funny story I have happened in our apartment. Me and sister young were thinking about the transfer, and everything, and we realized that we only have like 12 days left with each other. It was way sad. We were laying on the floor, when all of a sudden she reached over and with one finger starts petting my stomach and saying shhhh. I gave her the weirdest look. She started laughing and was like "Did you know that to make a lizard go to sleep, you pet its stomach?" Oh man. It was one of the funniest things ever!! We couldnt stop laughing! It was great :) 

I love you all so much! You are in my prayers!! Have a great week!! <3<3<3<3

Love Always,
Sister Randall

You can email Sister Randall at: chaylee.randall@myldsmail.net

Week Fifteen

Dearest Family,

First off, thank you. I have felt your prayers this past week. I am very grateful for everything that you have done for me. I love you all so much! The Lord is blessing me, and I know that he is blessing you. Thank you.

This past week has been hard, but a blessing. I have come to realize, that I am a daughter of God, and that everything He has given me, is a blessing. Even when it seems like it is a curse. We are all very blessed to be here, and have chosen the right path. There are some hard times that we as humans go through, but it is to help us, and to help someone else. Everything is a blessing.

We have been able to go around our area, and experience new things! :) One of them is a new car!!! The car we had was a 2013 Chevy Malibu Cruze. It was blue, and her name was CiCi. We loved her very dearly. Well, when we were at our mission wide conference, we were told that we had to get a new car. We were devastated. We loved CiCi, and were told that she was going to stay with us for a while. It was heartbreaking. Well, we have come to find out, that we love this car so much better! I am going to attach a picture, but I will still tell you about it. The car is a 2014 Chevy Malibu Cruze. Yes, they are letting me drive a brand new car. It only has like 2600 miles on it. It is so pretty! I have come to accept the brand new car. It is very nice, and I cant wait till I can drive it!!! :D :D Me and Sister Young are very excited :)

This week we have also been able to find, teach, preach, and baptize!!! :) It was a very good week :) This past two weeks, President Van Cott, challenged us to find 8 new investigators. I am going to be honest, we were not able to meet that goal. We may get to meet that goal this week though :) We just needed a little more time :) On Thursday, we were on exchanges, which meant that Sister Anderson and I were together. We are both still very young, and were having a really hard day. We had taught 2 lessons in the morning, but coming out of them, we were not feeling to good. It was really weird. Well, everything else that day had fallen through. Things were just really tough. We were both feeling like failures, and every time we went to someone's house, we would walk to the door, or right before we were going to get out of the car, we were getting terrible feelings. Like we should not be there, and to leave as soon as we could. The hard part, was that we were going to less active members homes. It was so crazy! We knew that we should see them, but we felt so sick to our stomachs about being there. Well, we had gone through our whole planner, and seen or tried to see everyone on it. We pulled over, knowing that we had 30 mins until dinner to do something, and not knowing where to go. We decided to pray. As I was saying the prayer I was told a name to go and see. This name was Laura Neely. Well, there is a crazy thing about this name. Laura Neely lives in East Highland. My area covers West Highland. This sister wasn't even in my area!!! I knew almost nothing about her. Sister Anderson knew a little more, but not much. Sister Anderson covers East Highland. Well, me being me, I decided to push the name aside. I kept telling myself, she is not in your area. YOU CANNOT GO THERE!!! Well, after the prayer, her name kept coming to my mind. It was like someone was yelling at me. It was crazy. I had looked at sister Anderson, and was like, "well, this is really weird. I am receiving revelation for your area." I told her that we should go and see Laura. She started crying! She felt the same way too!! Only, she had heard her sons name, Robert. So, we left my area, and went to go and see Laura. Well, Sister Anderson was freaking out a little. The day before, She and Sister Mucke had gone to go and see them. The husband was there, and had told the Sisters that his family was not going to convert. He wanted nothing to do with the church. (Laura and Robert are investigators, just so you know.) Sister Anderson got very scared. Well, that was the people we were going to go and see. Another thing, I had been to that house only once, and I was the one driving to the home. I had almost no idea where I was going. So, we went. When we got there, we had a prayer, and a little pep talk to try and get the courage to go and knock on this door. We did eventually get to the door. When we knocked, the dad was the one who opened it. We asked how he was doing, and said hello, and then didn't know what to say. We hadn't planned it that far... So, Sister Anderson was like, "Is everything okay? Are you okay?" The guy just looked at us and was like, "I am fine. We are all fine." He also had a really weird expression on his face. It was funny. I looked at this man and told him the truth. I told him, "Look, we have no idea why we are here. We were trying to see other people, but everything fell through. We prayed, and.." then he cut me off. He was like "And you felt inspired to come to my home. That makes me feel really safe." We were both shocked. Well, I hadn't introduced myself yet, so I did. And we talked. Turns out, that this man works for the homicide department. (They are actually real! I just thought that they were on TV... Silly me...) That day, they had found 4 graves of people. He looked a little worried. They now have that huge case that they are working on. It is crazy. Well, We had both felt like we should let him know that you can pray, and that your Heavenly Father loves you, and hears your prayers. He said that he felt comforted. We then left. As we were walking away, Sister Anderson was like, "We were there, to let Robert (the son) know that his Father in Heaven loves him. We were there to show him that God has not forgotten about him." It was an amazing experience. Just crazy.Then we headed to dinner.

We were having dinner with the Skoy's, who both served missions, and Brother Skoy is our ward mission leader. When we got there, they had one of their son's non member friends over for dinner. Sister Skoy put the missionaries and the two boys at the table, and then Brother and Sister Skoy sat at the island bar. It was so great. All four missionaries were there, so the Sisters and the Elders. It was great to just be able to talk and to get to know people better we had fun. After dinner we shared the Mormon message, Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them. It is an amazing message, you should all go and watch it. We talked about how the Book of Mormon can help each and everyone of us. It was really powerful. We had said the prayer, and were getting up to leave when Graham (the non member friend) was like, "You are all so different. I do not understand what is so different about you. You focus on life, and I really like that. I just don't understand." It was at that point that Sister Skoy was like, "Graham, do you want to know more? The Missionaries can teach you." We (the missionaries) were all in shock. Here we are, sitting in our Ward Mission Leaders home, and we are getting a new investigator. It was amazing!!! We were so excited!!! When we got back home, Sister Anderson talked, and for the first time, I realized that I could do this. I can be a missionary. I do not need my trainer. I will be able to serve my God, and help those that need my help. It was amazing. One of the first Ah-ha moments I have had. It was great!! :)

Well, the next day we went and taught Graham. He has accepted a Book of Mormon, and is going to be reading it. He is so excited to learn, and just soaks up the information. After we taught the restoration, Sister Skoy asked him to teach it to us, and he summed everything up. It was amazing!! We get to see him again on the 2 of December. He has finals the next couple of weeks, so we will teach him then. We are so excited!!

The day before we had exchanges, we looked through our records, and found a former investigator that we should go and see. So we did. We went to this house, and asked for the former's, and they had moved. So we introduced our selves, and are going to go and see the family when we are done with our email! :) We are so excited!! Today we are also going to go and see another former that lives in the same area. We are going to get 5 new investigators today :) That will be more than we have gotten in the past 3 1/2 months. It is so exciting!! :D

We also had a mission wide conference this past Saturday. It was amazing! There are 220 something missionaries out in the mission right now! President wants everyone to be baptizing 2 investigators per companionship per month. He wants that to start happening in February. That means that there will be 2 wards being baptized every month!! We are all so excited!! :) He also wants us to all find 4 new investigators every week. These are long time goals. 70% of all the missionaries out are in the 12 week training program. Which means that the mission is very new. By February, we shouldn't have a ton of missionaries coming out. It will be great!! I cant wait to see how the mission is going to grow!! :)

Saturday night was also Linda's baptism. It was so good! She was so excited to be baptized, and to take that step to her Father in Heaven. It went really well, surprisingly. The baptism was spiritual and uplifting, it was focused on her, and the blessings she received, it was great. There wasn't a lot of people there, but more than our ward mission leader though. It was perfect, until we had refreshments. We had made a couple of the refreshments, and bought drink mixes for it, and it was gonna be great. Well, what we didn't realize, was that we bought kool-aid mix packets for 2-quarts of water. Did you know that the pitchers at the church are 4-quart pitchers?? Do you also know what happens when you put too much water for the mix, not good. It was so funny!! The drinks were sour, and not good at all. We felt soooo bad!! But everyone was having a good time, so that was nice. All in all, it was a great night and something that I will remember for a long time :)

It is kinda fun to be a trainer :) I am not a complete trainer, but I get to still practice. :) Sister Anderson is great though. She knows that we are both new at it, and is patient with me :) Things are going well though. I am still nervous when I make phone calls, and when we go to doors that we haven't been to before, but it is all still well :) I am learning just as much as Sister Anderson is learning. I have been able to learn how to rely on the spirit so much more! It is amazing to feel the spirit testify something to you. I am going to miss having it be so prevalent when I get off the mission. It will all be well :)

Sister Anderson is great! She is from Monterrey Utah, and is the sweetest thing ever!! She was going into theater, but has decided that it is not for her. She is great :) We have planned to do a road trip when we get off our missions! :) It is going to be great! she is 19, and when to UVU. I love her! We connect a lot, and really get along with each other :) I enjoy her :)

Sister Young is doing well. it is amazing how comfortable we are with each other. She is like a sister to me, and I really appreciate that. We are able to joke around with each other, and we love it. I am so blessed to have her!! :)

Have a great week!! You are all in my prayers!!

Week Fourteen

Dearest Family :)

I am just gonna say, I cant believe that it is the middle of November all ready!! Just saying.

Guess what! I found out some really cool facts from President Van Cott. He sent them in our letter. Here they are:
 - This is going to be an historic week in the California Redlands Mission. Since we arrived in July we have gone from 156 missionaries to 212. We have also had four more senior missionaries arrive with another four coming in the next couple months. That will put us at 222 missionaries! As of right now that is where our missionary complement is set which means we may go a little above that number or a little below.
Why is that exciting? We have one more good sized transfer on December 10th requiring us to open a few more areas and then we will be more stable. It means that now we can focus on our areas and the work that we have been called to do. It means in three to four months we will all be trained and ready to be effective missionaries. We will be ready to receive blessings for our diligent preparations!


How neat is that!! Our mission is going to hit maximum capacity this coming transfer! Over half the mission is in the 12 week training program. That is the program they now do, because we only get 12 days in the MTC. It is so crazy!! The training program includes the missionaries being trained, and the trainers. It is neat :)

OKAY. Now about my week.

This has been a good week. Everything seems to be a blur though, so bear with me. It is crazy that it is already monday. Time is flying by.

Great news!! Linda, the sister we are teaching, is getting baptized on Saturday!! We are all so excited!! She is getting baptized, then confirmed, then is moving to Colorado :( it is sad, but we know that this is what she is supposed to do. She is going to Colorado for a job, so it will be good :)

We also are going to be meeting with Ray and Delilah this coming week. They are the couple that I felt inspired to go to there house, and then Sister Straatman and I taught them a little of the first lesson. It was really cool. They are reading their Book of Mormon, so hopefully everything is going great! :)

We aren't teaching Robin any more :( we kept calling her, and stopping by, and she hasn't been picking up, and has been telling us to leave :( It is really sad. We have decided to give her sometime. She will come back when she is ready :)

The ward is kinda getting excited about missionary work. It has taken us a while to get things done, and to really push the missionary work. The stake president is really trying to push missionary work. In his stake 5 new areas just got opened. He has over 20 missionaries to work with. Some of the wards are doing really well with missionary work. A lot of the missionaries have their daily planners full everyday. A lot of the wards are amazing with their missionary work. Our ward has some really good ideas. The ward is getting there :) It will be good :)

We had exchanges this week, which means that Sister Anderson and I were together for the first time. The exchanges lasted two day this week instead of just one. The other sisters had a training with president and the other zone leaders, and the other sister training leaders. When they had that, me and Sister Anderson had to go and take the other her car to the dealership. There has been a very funky noise in the car. It is kinda like a thunking, and it happens randomly, at random times. Well, we took it to the dealership, spent 5 hours there, and they blamed the noise on a water bottle. It was so upsetting. We put that water bottle there that morning, so that we could have something to drink during the day. The sad part was, we had appointments for that entire day. We had to call and cancel almost all of them. It was really really upsetting.
Cool story though :) When we were in Redlands,we were by Citrus Plaza. It is like a big shopping area. It has Kholes, a book store, Target, Cafe Rio, Coldstone, Jamba Juice, and some other places. Well, we were hungry. So we took the courtesy shuttle from the dealership to Cafe Rio.  When we got into Cafe Rio we were standing in line, and this lady started talking to us. She is a member of the church and was wondering where we were serving and that kind of a thing. She was really sweet too :) Well, the line was moving along, and we thought nothing of it. When we caught up to her again, she turned around and gave me and Sister Anderson both 10 dollars. This sister, who did not know who we were except for knowing that we were missionaries, decided to buy our lunch for us. She wasn't in either of our wards. It was so nice! It made me realize, that the Lord is aware of us, and the things we need. He places simple acts of kindness in our paths, to show us His love. It was great. :)

Th day after that really cool experience, we were on exchanges again. We got to go and see some people, and then went down the ward list, and realized that there were a lot of people that we hadn't seen, and knew nothing about. We went to some of there houses and were having a really tough day. Sister Anderson and I were both really struggling and were just having a hard time. None of the people we had seen wanted to really talk to us, and it was just hard. Well, we stopped at this one lady's house, and there was a man outside. We started talking, and found out that the sister that lives there, got remarried to this man. We were like okay, no big deal. He told us that they weren't interested in the church anymore, and that they didn't want to do the Mormon thing anymore. It was a little sad :( But, we complemented him on his garden. When we did that, he then took us all around his garden. He has so many fruit trees, and plants! His entire backyard was full of different fruit trees, and everything. I have tasted guavas now! It is great :) He told us to come back whenever we would like more guavas :) We might just take him up on that offer.

We also met a new family in the ward. Their names are the Imig's. They are a young couple with a 4 year old girl, and a baby on the way! They just moved here from Utah I think, and are fantastic! We are going to see them this week, and get to know them better :)

Other than that, nothing much has really happened. We went to the Ward Mission Leader meeting for the stake. It was amazing, and there was so much to learn.

This work is amazing! I love being a missionary, and I am amazed at how fast the time is flying by!

I can't really think of anything funny. I know that there must have been something that happened, but I can't remember. I am sure that once I get off my email and we are shopping, I will think of something funny. Isn't that how is always happens? :P

My companion and roommates are great :) We all get along, and then there are sometimes when a little bit of drama happens. I am trying really hard to stay out of it. I am doing pretty good at that. I tend to just sit back a not say much. It is working so far. I am becoming a really good listener :) I guess that is what happens when you have to listen to the spirit, and the person you are teaching at once :) It is working out really well :)

Sister Anderson is great! I love her so much! We have decided that if at all possible, we want to go on a road trip when we both get back from our missions. She is from Utah, so it will work great! Sister Young has also said that she wants to come :) I am excited!!

President and Sister Van Cott are amazing! They are incredible people! They are both young, and have a daughter out on a mission right now. They have 5 kids. 2 daughters and 3 sons. Their oldest is the daughter and she is 19, and then their youngest is a boy, and he is 7. They are all so cute! Sister Van Cott is really good at taking care of us, and helping us when we are sick. President Van Cott is an amazing man. When he speaks it is amazing! You can hear the spirit come through his words, and it just hits you like a wave. It is crazy. They are also really funny. Just like a normal person would be. :) I enjoy them, a lot :)

The best teaching experience I have had... hmm... Idk. They all have been great. I think the one I really liked this week, is when we taught Linda about tithing and fast offerings. It was so neat to be able to tie in eternal life, and the temple into that lesson. She is so excited to get baptized, and then to go to the temple and be baptized for her family. She is already working on her family history work :) It is great :)

Well, I should be going.

I love you all so very much!! Have a great week! You are all in my prayers!

Love always,
Sister Randall

Week Thirteen

Dearest Family,

This week has been a busy one. We have done lots and lots of service. Oh. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Our ward is making us fat. We have so many treats, and candy that is in our apartment. It is crazy. We enjoy it though :) Not to much to complain about. It will only be a little weight gain... I hope only a little...

Anyways. This week has been good. I have pulled weeds, and anything green in a garden. I have helped someone move. We took down some extensive Halloween decorations, and we also served food for 7 hours at a Redlands fair. I now have a very funky tan line. Oh well. It was a lot of fun. We got to see Sister Straatman again, which was very nice :)

We have taught some lessons this week. The total lessons we taught was 20. Our goal was 20. it is really exciting :) The Lord is defiantly providing miracles in our area :)

My favorite part about this week... hmm... I think it would have to be all the service we have done. A lot of it was with other missionaries, so we got to know them a lot. :) It was a lot of fun :)

Funny Story: We were helping serve lunch and dinner at this fair thing, and all the missionaries were serving people. I ended up standing next to one of our AP's and I was giving out the rolls. I kept telling people, "if you wanna open your buns, it will make a great sandwich". After the crowd died down a little, the elder was like, "its a little awkward for me when you talk about buns like that. I am sure people don't want their bus to be opened and made into a sandwich." I had NO idea that it would have seemed like that. So, when someone else came I said "if you want to open your roll, it will make a great sandwich." The elder just grinned. it was really funny. I guess you had to be there... idk... not much else has been funny. I just keep saying things and my dry humor comes out, and others laugh. idk.

We are still teaching Robin, but not as much as we used to. We aren't sure what it is that we are supposed to do anymore. She isn't really progressing. All well. It will all work out.

We are still teaching Linda as well. She has a baptismal date for November 16th, but she is going to be moving soon. We are trying to decide whether or not we should baptize her now. She wants to be baptized before she moves, but we aren't very sure how we fell about it. I guess it will take lots of fasting and prayer.

We did get a new investigator this week. Her name is Sharon. She lives in the apartment right behind us. She is an older single lady, and very sweet. She has had a rough life, but knows that god is there for her. :) She is cute :)

The new missionary in out apartment is Sister Anderson. She is amazing!! I love her!! It will be lots of fun :) She is from Utah, and is so sweet. She loves theater, and has been through some hard trials. She said that from the first moment she saw me, she felt more of a connection then she did with Sister Mucke. It was neat to hear. She is 19, and just so cute :) I love her so much!

It is kinda nice to not be a newbie. The bad part, is that I am still kinda treated like one. It has a lot to do with the fact that I am not training. It is weird how much that has to do with the way that the other missionaries look at you. Our of the district that came out with me, one elder has gone home, and everyone is training except for me and another elder. It is really hard. I know that it shouldn't affect me, but it kinda does. I don't like being treated inferior. I will live though. The Lord has placed me here, and kept me with Sister Young for a reason. She is great, and I love her so much! I have come to think that I am not supposed to train. I have a feeling that the Lord is going to keep me in apartments where there are two companion ships, and I am supposed to help the ones that aren't my companions. It feels right to say that. I may never train, but I can know that the Lord will always have a purpose for me.

I love this work!! The Lord has blessed my life so much. I know that this ward cares for me, and that I am supposed to be here. We are seeing those miracles that have been promised to us. It is a wonderful work.

Thank you so much for all that you sacrifice for me. Without the support of those that love me, I know that this work would be much harder. I am truly blesses. Thank you for your prayers.

Know that I am praying for you, and that I love you all so much!!

Have a great week :)