Week Three Transfer Six

Dear Family,

This week has been a little crazy. I got transferred again, well, kinda. It has just been different.

This past Monday was a pretty normal day. Did the usual thing. We had FHE and there were 4 nonmembers there! It was so neat! We played board games and then had ice cream sundaes. It was great :) Found a new game that I really liked. It is called word bubble. It is kinda like apples to apples, only you have a bunch of pictures, and each player has 7 cards with captions for the picture that you could choose. You go around, and play just like apples to apples. It is tons of fun! That one was my favorite of the games. It was just a great night. That day we also had a member help us wash our car. It was very dirty, and needed some cleaning. It was a lot of fun. Two ward members were there, and they helped us. They then took us out to dinner. We were going to be having dinner at their place, only the fruit they bought was rotten. It was really sad. So, they took us out to BJ's for dinner, and we had very expensive pizza. It was so good though, but cost a ton of money. We were a little spoiled that day.

On Tuesday is was a pretty normal day. We went to go and try to find people that the ward has asked us to find. It was just a lot of driving and knocking on doors. It was fun though. We got to talk in the car, and then see who could knock the loudest. It was good. That night dinner was really funny. We were going to our members home, who was a male. We thought that he knew that you had to have another sister there in order to have us over for dinner. Well, he kinda forgot. We got there, and he welcomed us into his house, and was very kind. Well, it was really, really quite. We were in the front room looking at his fish tanks, and he was in the kitchen. I ended up asking if there was another girl there, and he said no. I was like well, we need to have another sister over for dinner, and then he was oh, right. Let me call some people. He then walked away. When he walked back, I told him, we aren't supposed to even be in your house without another sister. So, what did we do? Sat on the front steps waiting for a sister to come to dinner. It was different. Made me smile. Some of the guys in the ward keep forgetting that with Sisters you have to have another sister. It is just a lot of fun :)

Well, Wednesday was a little different. We found out that morning, that we were getting a new sister, and moving. Surprise!!! Transferred, again. It was a crazy day. We packed, and moved furniture (the other sisters living in the apartment stayed and wanted to move all of their stuff into our bedroom, didn't even wait for us to really finish unpacking until they moved everything. It was kinda funny) That day we drove to the mission office and dropped off our car. The other sister that we were getting picked us up with some other sisters. We then had to drive all the way to Fontana and then to Loma Linda for dinner. We had dinner and then drove to the stake center in Redlands to go on ward visits. It was a lot of driving that day. We also then had to move all of our (Sister Letoa and I) stuff out of the apartment we were in, in to the house that the other sister was living in. It was a crazy day.

Now for the story of the new companion. So, this last transfer we got two sisters that were waiting for their Russian Visas. Well, this past Monday they got them and left for Russia. That meant that there were 2 sisters in the mission who didn't have companions. We all just thought that they would put them together and then close an area. That is not what happened though. There was one trio in the mission. (the one I was in in Rialto) they took one of the sisters from there, and put her with one of the sisters that was left. The other sister, Sister Morgan, was then put with us. We are now covering two wards, and have to work that all out with everything. Sister Morgan is great though :) She is from the Logan area in Utah, and has been out for 13 months. We were in the same Zone my first area, and I kinda got to know her then. It has been good. We are now living in another home share. The thing is, is that it was meant for 2 missionaries and we now have 3 living there. It is a little squished, but going well.

The rest of the week has just been craziness. We are trying to figure out how to work the two area. It is going to be good though. Things will pick up, and it will be awesome! It is also only for 3 weeks. It will be really good though!

Things are going well. just working on figuring out what we need to do.

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

Week 2 Transfer 6

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a good week, with an amazing weekend attached to the end. :) 

First, last weekend I had a really neat experience that I didn't tell you all about, but got reminded of it by mom and dad :)

Every Sunday night, we go to ward prayer. It is when members of the ward all get together at the Bishops house, and we talk eat food, and then have a couple of spiritual thoughts, and then pray together for the week. It is a really amazing experience. Well, we have been going early to that, to help Sister Brice (our bishops wife) make the cookies. This past Sunday when we went, there was another sister there. We were talking for a little but, and she said that she was really worried about her son in Yemen. She said that she keeps calling President Price, President Christensen, and Brother Clemence to see how her son is doing. I don't know why I said this, but I told her where I was from,(meaning Saudi Arabia) and that I knew each of those amazing men. I felt strongly impressed to let her know that her son was safe. I had the distinct impression to tell her, what I was told when Elder Holland came to see us. He told us all that we were safe. That we were sent to the Middle East for a purpose. I promised her what I was promised, that her son, as long as he was keeping the commandments, being careful and doing the best he could, that the Apostolic blessing was for her son too. It was an amazing experience. I know that her son is in a scary place. I know what it is like to worry about family, and the ones you love who are in an area where things can go wrong at any moment. I had to remind myself, and let this kind sister know, that the ones we both loved were okay. That they were safe. Sister Brice last night thanked me. She said that I really had an impact on this sisters heart. I feel like that was why I am here. I don't know how much longer my time in this area will be. We have at least 3 weeks until transfers, but I feel like my purpose has been accomplished. It was an amazing experience for me. There is someone out there for us all to touch. We all go through things that are hard and are difficult. Follow the direction of the Spirit. He will let you know where you should be, and how to help those around you. You never know the impact you can have on someones life. 

Okay, so back to this week. It was kinda a normal week. Monday was the usual P-day, then Tuesday we had institute, and then had dinner with Bishop Brice and Sister Brice. It was really fun. I like them both a lot. There is something about having older people serve in Young Adult/Youth callings. They become younger. I don't know how to explain it. They are a lot of fun :) That night we did some unplanned service instead of going to Institute. Sister Brice is getting her cabinets redone, and had to remove everything from all the drawers and try and find a place for them. So we helped her with that. It was fun. We got to chat, and get to know each other a little better. :) On Wednesday It was a normal stop by and see as many people as we can type of day. We also found out that day that we now have a limit on our miles. It is going to be a little difficult with how much we cover, but I know we can do it. We are starting to see if we can get member rides to everything that we do with the ward. It should be really good. We are also walking a lot. It was really hard for Sister Letoa. On Friday we walked for a good 5 hours. We did about 6 miles too. It was a little much for her. She isn't used to walking. Her pore little feet were covered in blisters, and she could barely move! I felt so bad! I was also very thankful. I am so glad that I didn't have a car my first year up at BYUI. It meant that I am now really good at walking and pushing through whatever I am feeling to just get to the next point. It was really good for me. I enjoyed it. :) 

Okay so now to the really spiritual weekend :)

We had an Apostle come to our mission!!! We had Elder Neil L. Anderson, Elder Perkins, and also Elder Higham. It was way neat!! We got to shake hands with all of them. Oh, and we also got to leave the mission :) The meeting was a combined mission conference. We were meeting with the Rancho Cucamonga mission, and so we went to the Rancho stake center/mission office. It was really fun :) Each and everyone of the 500 missionaries got to shake hand with the Apostle and the General Authorities. It was amazing!!! Elder Anderson talked a lot about the Atonement. He said something that really stood out to me. He said that there are sometimes that we think of the Atonement as just Christ suffering for our sins. It was that yes, but He also suffered for any pain, suffering, sadness, hurt, anything that would cause us to not have joy, He suffered for that. It isn't just about the sins, Christ really does understand all of our feelings. Every one of them. That was really powerful for me. He also mentioned that one of the Apostles or someone told him that he is an Apostle with a big "A" and we are apostles with a little "a". That was neat to hear :) The conference was just amazing!! I loved it so much!! 

Another really neat thing happened. Graham got baptized on Saturday!! How amazing is that!!!!! Graham is the investigator that I was teaching in Highland, and then got transferred. He is now baptized!!! It was amazing!!! To be able to watch him go through everything he has gone through, and to now be perfectly pure and clean! Amazing!!! (See the beginning of Graham's story in Sister Randall's blog on December 5th, 2013)

After the baptism we had a ward activity :) It was a St. Patricks Day party, and  lot of fun!! Adam Bleleau, he is the ward member that is so amazing to the sister missionaries. He helps us a lot. He took lots and lots of pictures :) He said he was going to send them, and by the way it sounds, it seems like he has :) 

I am not sure what else to say. Oh, now I remember.  On Sunday we got to hear from Elder Anderson again. It was really neat, because we had a lot of the city officials there, and he really directed his talk to just on Christ. It was really neat. 

Well, this week was wonderful. No new investigators, but we hopefully have a lot of referrals coming from the members! It will be amazing!! 

Have a wonderful week everyone!! I love you all so much! You are all in my prayers!!!

Ou te Alofa is oe!! <3 <3

Week One of Transfer Six

Talofa Aiga ma Uo,

That is really fun to type. As you can see, I am still learning Samoan. It is a slow process, but so much fun!

I am still in the singles ward. I got to survive transfers!! This week was a lot slower than normal weeks though.

Sadly, we have had to drop a couple of our investigators. It is okay though. The blessings will come!  This is just what missionary work is. There are going to be times that we do not get to meet with and sadly need to drop our investigators for now. Miracles do happen though!!

This past Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with Adrian (not sure his age.. early 20's I think)! He is the one that we picked up because of our area book :) He is doing great! We had an amazing lesson with our ward mission leader and it was perfect!! The Spirit was so strong!! I love lessons like that!! We taught the Message of the Restoration and it went so smoothly! I know for a fact that the Lord was truly in that lesson!

We also had a wonderful couple of lessons with our other investigator Ernest (26). Our first lesson this week we got to teach it on the temple grounds!! It was so spiritual!! We talked about prayer, scripture study, and keeping the Sabbath day holy. The Spirit on the temple grounds is amazing!! I love being able to turn to the Lord and be at his house of worship!! Even if it means that I cant go inside right now, I can still sit on the lovely grounds!! The other lesson we had with Ernest was about the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. Those lessons used to scare me the most, but now I am okay teaching them. You learn so much about everything when you first teach it to an 11 year old. Those lessons are still a little awkward but talking about Chastity almost always is. It was good though. The spirit was very strong, and we were directed by it in everything that we did that night.

I love the Spirit so much!! We had two wonderful less active lessons this week!! We have been trying to see less actives since I got here. It has been very difficult to get in with any of them. Well, we had a couple of miracles this past week :) We have been able to get into two of our less actives homes!! The great thing is that their parents are the ones who kept pushing us to go and see them. I just love how a lot of the parents of the single ward members want them to get back to church :) It is great :) The lessons were perfect! We talked about prayer, scripture study, and church with both of them. It was the same doctrine but two very different lessons. The Spirit guides us in so much of the work!!

Okay, so there were a couple of funny things that happened this week. Well, they were funny to me, hopefully they will be funny to you too :)

So, one night we were all at home (Sister Letoa, Sister Straatman, Sister Bullen, and I) and were all getting ready for bed. Well, Sister Bullen was in the shower and Sister Straatman was in our room. One thing you have to know, we all have stuffed animals. Well, everyone except Sister Bullen. So, Sister Letoa talks to her animals and makes these weird noises to them. It is one of the funniest things ever! Sister Straatman had never experienced this wonderfully funny moment until that night. She freaked out! She ran and got her stuffed dog and Sister Letoa started talking to it. Once the initial greeting was done, they decided to scare Sister Bullen. They ended up setting all of our stuffed animals out side of the bathroom door with a little sign to Sister Bullen. It was amazing to see! We ended up waiting for about 30 mins until Sister Bullen came out of the bathroom. We have two videos of us just sitting there and talking. It was great!! Sister Bullen came out, and jumped a little. :) Made me smile :)

The best part about that though, was that Elder Crossman (the housing elder) had to bring us a new box spring and ended up commenting on how he would never bring his animals on a mission. And then he said that his wife wouldn't ever let him. It made me smile :) Elder Crossman reminds me a lot of Grandpa with all of his teasing :)

The mission is great :) I am really enjoying everything out here!! Have a wonderful week!! You are all in my prayers!!!

Alofa ia oi,
Sister Randall

Week Six Transfer Five

Talofa Everyone!!

This week has been full of many miracles, and just doing the Lords work.

We now have 5 investigators!!! It is so much fun!! I was telling Dad that I have never had to keep track of so many investigators before. It is a little difficult sometimes. We are happy to have all of them though. :) We may be dropping two of them. It is hard to keep someone going in the church, when they don't choose it.

Everything is going really well though. :) This week we picked up two new investigators!! The work is progressing so much! We are working on doubling the numbers in the ward! There is already a difference in the size of the ward. The members are really realizing how to do the missionary work!! It is amazing! Everything is just booming!!!

This week when we have met with our investigators, we have had members there!! I have not has as many member present lessons as I have here!! It is so great!!! We are getting those relationships in the ward to build, and are having a great time at it!!

Oh, neat experience. This week we have been going to see the former investigators. Those are people who at one time were investigating the church, but for some reason, have stopped. We still have their records, and have been to go and see if they want to learn more. Well, we went to this one former's house. His name is Adrian. We knocked on the door, and his mom came out and we asked for her son. She was on the phone and shut the door, but said to wait. So we were standing there and the garage door opened, and Adrian walked out! We talked to him and introduced ourselves to him. We asked him why the missionaries had stopped coming by, and he said that they had gotten busy and that he had gotten busy too. That was kinda a shocker. Well, we talked a little bit and set up a time to come back and see him.  Well, here is the neat part, at that moment he said yes and told us that he wants to come to church and that he wants a Book of Mormon!!!! How neat is that!!! We were so excited!!! It was so fun to be able to have this wonderful experience. The appointment that we had set up fell through, but he did come to church!! He also stayed for all three hours!! It was so great!!! It was the best thing in the whole world!! Well, okay maybe not the best, but it was really good :) That day was a lot of fun :)

So, last month on fast Sunday the whole stake fasted for rain. Southern Cali really needs it. Well, this past week we were blessed with it!! It rained for 3 days!!! It was really nice, except that we were really wet, like, a lot. Attached is a picture of that day. We are really wet because, we went out into the rain when it was not raining to get to a house. Well, we got in the house and were talking for about an hour when all of a sudden right as we are going to leave it starts to pour!!! We didn't have our umbrellas because it wasn't raining! It was so crazy the whole time!!! We got into the car and were just soaked!! It was really funny too. I have a video that I am going to send to you that we made when we were in the car. That was a fun day. We were able to stop by and see the Padgetts!! We needed to use their restroom, and I knew that they would be home :) It was really fun to see them :)

On an exchange with Sister Straatman in the rain. 

This week we also had a lesson with another one of our investigators. She also brought her boyfriend, who is now a new investigator. It was probably one of the hardest lessons that I have taught. There were so many question that he asked, that I had no idea how to respond!! It was so crazy!! Lucklily, we had a return missinoariy there, and that helped a lot.

I did get to see Bishop and Sister Holmes this past Sunday!! It was so much fun!! They were at the Stake center because of stake choir, and we were at the church later because of break the fast with the YSA ward. It was so much fun to see them!! I got to talk with them a little bit, and lean some more information about Emily's wedding! It is so much fun to serve in this ward, and still get to see those that were in my last area!! It was amazing!!

Things are just going. This week is transfers, but we are lucky and we get to stay another transfer!! I love this ward and area so much!! The Lord is blessing us!!

Have a wonderful week everyone!! I love you all so much!!!

Ou te Alofa ia oe!!!

oh, btw, I am learning Samoa!!

You are all in my prayers!!!