Week Two Transfer Seven

Dear Family, Friends, and Loved Ones :)

This week has been a really good one! Well, it feels like it has been.  Things have been going really slow though.

The area is great! I am loving it here. The members in both wards are awesome!! It has been so fun to be able to get to know them, and to be able to work with them!! I love it here so much!!

Sister Kelly and I are getting along great still! She is one of the best companions I have had! We are able to talk freely, and just have a good time. It has been great to also plan  what we are going to do when we both get up to school :) (Both of them plan to return to BYU-Idaho)


This week was a slow week. We are trying to get to know the members, which means that we forget to teach lessons, which means that we aren't doing very well with our numbers. It is all going to be good. We also had to drop one of our investigators. She was supposed to get baptized yesterday, but because of some
decisions that have been made, we aren't going to be able to see her again. It will all work out though :)

This week I hit my 9 months :) It is weird having been out half way!

Things are going well, and progressing. I am loving the members here!!

I hope you all have a great week!!!

Love you lots and you are in my prayers!!!

Week One of Transfer Seven

Dear Family,

 I love you all so very much!!! I am so blessed to have you on my side!!  Also, Happy Easter! It was an amazing day yesterday!

So, for this week :)

I have been transferred, as you well know. I am in the desert, and covering two wards :) I am covering the Bermuda Dunes Ward, and the Santa Rosa Ward. It is amazing! I love being out here! It feels like home, which is way nice!! The weather is also amazing! People keep telling me, I am so sorry that you are here for the summer. It is going to get really hot. I then remind all of them that I did live in Saudi Arabia. They then tell me that I will be perfectly fine here :) It is really funny :) The wards are really big, and a lot of them are really active. It is really cool to be in a family ward again. It is also really loud to be in a family ward again. Especially the ones that I am in. It is different, but really nice :)

My companion is Sister Kelly. She is amazing! She is 21, and has been on her mission for 6 months. She has been in the same area, with the same companion for the past 6 months. How crazy is that! I don't even know what that would feel like!! She is amazing though! She is from Texas, and has 6 siblings. She is great!! We get along amazing! I love her!! She is also really happy, which is amazing! It is something that I have needed. She also has this amazing Spirit about her. I love being with her! We talk a lot, which is nice, because I can say whatever, and don't have to explain what I mean. It is a very nice thing. :)

The work is going to progress so much! It was really neat to be able to drive to the desert. There was a different Spirit when you drive into it. It is not something  that I would have felt or realized if I wasn't a missionary. The best way I can explain it, is when you go into the temple, or when you walk into a church building. The Spirit is different there. You don't have to question where it is. It is just there. It is an amazing feeling!! I love everything!! It is just amazing to be here! The Lord has so many plans for the area, I can feel it!!

I have come to find out, that it is really good to have
a new pair of eyes in places. Sister Kelly hasn't been able to recognize things, because she has been here so long, that I am able to see, and to help her see. It is amazing!

The Lord really does prepare his areas, and his missionaries! It is amazing the work that is being done!

I love everyone so much! Have a great week!! You are in my prayers!!!

Sister Randall

Week Six of Transfer Six

Dear Family, 

This week was a really good one! The work is progressing so much! I love to be a missionary right now, and am excited for the coming transfer! I am going to be transferred. I am going Bermuda Dunes. That is out in Indio, which is past Palm Desert. I am going the desert, and will be with a new companion. I am excited, and a little scared. I am sure this is how all missionaries feel. 

Before I go on with my week, everyone who reads this needs to go to:

mormon.org/becauseofhim

This is the Easter video that the church has put up. It is amazing!!! I have already seen it 4 times!! The church has paid some really good money for this video, and it is so good! It is not other bible videos, this one is really good, and is very easy to relate to. You should all watch it, then share it. If I could I would be sharing it in a second. it is amazing!!! 

Now for the week!

This week really was a great one! Ernest is getting baptized!! He will be baptized on May 3rd. It is going to be great! He is growing so much!! It has been wonderful to work with him in the time that I have had. His Spirit is so strong! You can tell that this is really what he wants to do!! He is getting stronger, and is opening up more to the kids in the ward. It is wonderful!! Our other investigator Adrian is doing well! He is progressing, and really wants to learn more. It is great!! They are both progressing, and are both following the path that the Lord has for them!

We also have an amazing potential investigator!! His name is David, and he is great! We know him, because of one of our members in the ward. He, without the help of the missionaries, has read through the Book of Mormon twice, and has been to Salt Lake City for general conference! How great is that! He is doing so well, and we haven't even taught him yet! It is amazing the work that the members can do, and the progress that we can all have! The Lord is truly blessing this area! It was great, we went to our members house, and David was there because he is their friend. We were there to bake cookies to give to members in both wards. While we were there waiting for the cookies, we ended up watching Mormon Messages. It is amazing the Spirit that comes with those simple videos! I love doing this work, and getting things done! 

This week we also want our to Banning. For those of you who don't know, that is about 45 minutes out of Redlands. It was so fun! The air there is so clear! It is like a huge farming community, and looks just like Northern Utah. It is beautiful there! Well, we went there to find our less actives. When we knocked on a door, a mom answered. She told us that her son had moved out, but that she was going to let him know that we stopped by. She was so grateful that we drove all the way from Redlands to come and see her son. It was that moment that I realized that we can't just call those people we are supposed to go and see. We can't just call those we visit or home teach. We have to stop by, at least once. We will never know what kind of an impact that our presence can have on somebody. There are so many sweet people here! It is going to be a little hard to leave, but it will be the Lords work! 

This week we also went to Market night. It is a farmers market that people go to, and you walk up and down the streets and see what the people have to offer. It is so great! We were taken there by members, and just had a great time walking around, and seeing the different things that people had to offer. I did learn something there though. What ever you do, do not go and eat Chinese food from a vender there. It is not the best thing in the world. It all worked out in the end though. It was just a lot of fun! 

This week was good. It is going to be sad to leave this area, but I will go and do what the Lord wants me to do. He knows what needs to be done, and He will make whatever He wants to happen, happen. 

This is amazing work! I love it so much! 

Everyone have a great week!! You are all in my prayers!

I love you so much!! 

Week Five of Transfer Six

Dear Family, 

This week has been a full one!! 

We have been able to meet with our two investigators, and they have been progressing!!

Update on the knee. I am officially off of crutches!!! I was able to talk to the doctor that is helping me with my knee, it is also really nice, because she is our Bishops's wife :) She said that I am good to go!! I just have to keep taking anti-inflammatory to make sure it will all be okay, and then all should be well :) I am so happy to be able to walk again!! Crutches are no fun. 

This week was just good. We have a bonfire last week for FHE, and it was a lot of fun! It was good just to relax for a minute and take a load off for a little bit. Last Monday was just a lot of running around, and getting things taken care of with car, and all that has been happening in our area. It has been good though. 

We have been able to eat a lot this week in the Prospect Park ward, which is the family ward that we are covering in our trio. It is so different being back in a family ward. The dinners are really nice, but I kinda don't miss the food that we were having. It is nice to be back to home cooked meals instead of restaurants and fast food. It is all going well :) 

This week we were able to meet with our investigator Ernest, and you will never guess what happened. He is now on date for baptism!! It was so exciting! Sister Letoa extended the invitation for baptism, and I have to be honest, I thought that he was going to say no, and then he said yes!! She then asked him if he would be baptized on a specific date, but didn't have one available. It then became one of those awkward silence moments when you aren't sure what to say, and we didn't have a date picked out, so I said the first date that came to my mind. April 22. Well, it turns out, that after he said yes, and we were headed to the car, April 22 is a Tuesday... yeah, that one was my bad. So, we are going to ask him if he want to be baptized on either April 26, or May 3 which are both Saturdays. It should be good :) We are excited to see what happens :) He is going to get baptized, and that is what matters the most!! :) 

Other than that experience in that lesson, nothing to exciting happened, well, other than the bike race. Did you know that every year there is a professional bike race in Southern California?? Yup, there is one. We were able to go to it, because the entire thing took place in our mission, and on Saturday and Sunday, the same days of conference, there was a race in Redlands. Right where we were :) It was actually really exciting. I had never been to a bike race before, but I enjoyed it a lot. :) They are very exciting. 

Conference was also this weekend!! It was so great to be able to listen to the words of our Prophet and Apostles!! I had a couple of questions and they were all answered! It as amazing! I wanted to know how to best help my area, and the ward, and the thing that I got was to love them . It is so true though. I loved all the talks about love. Kidna ironic huh? It was wonderful! The Spirit was so strong in all the meetings!! I am also very grateful that I am not serving in the area that the mashed potatoes sisters are serving in, like in Elder Hollands talk. It was a really good conference. If you haven't read or watched it, you should :) 

Other than that nothing to exciting. Life is moving along. Getting to the half way point, and doing pretty good. 

I love you all so much!! Have a wonderful week, and know that you are in my prayers!! Have a wonderful week!!

xoxoxoxox <3 <3 <3 :* 

Week Four Transfer Six

Dear Family,

This week has been another crazy week. We are still trying to figure out everything with the two wards. Luckily our trio is doing great :) I really do like working with Sister Morgan. She is a sweet sister that really helps when things are getting rough with teaching Sister Letoa. It it nice to have someone else there to help with all of that. Everything is just going great.

We are adjusting to all of us living together. The place we have is really small, but it has been going great. We are able to study, and do the things that we need to do there. It is going well. I kinda feel like I am living at home, kinda. Sharing everything with more than one girl. It is working. I enjoy it all a lot :)

This week has been full of lots of adventures. About a week and a half ago I had hurt my knee but kinda pushed it off for a little while. Well last Sunday I had our Bishop's wife look at my knee. She said that I should go into the doctor and get an X-ray of my knee just to see what it was. So, that is what we did on Tuesday. Turns out, because of the activity that I have been having on my leg my meniscus was inflamed.  I had to be on crutches and with a brace for about a week. It is all okay though. One of our members got a picture and sent it to Mommy, that was really nice. I also had the mission office call home so that they would know that all is okay. A couple of days later we went to Sister Brice's house, the bishops wife, and she told me that a radiologist had looked at my x-ray. It turns out that my knee cap is deformed. Because of my bike accident about 10 years ago my knee healed funny and there is now a hook on my knee cap. Because of this hook I have to be very careful. The doctor also said that at some point I am going to have to get surgery on my knee so that it can be fixed. Luckily that doesn't have to happen now. All I have to do is not run, or jump rope, and be very careful on it. It will all be okay. I just gotta heal. It will take about 6 weeks for it to fully heal, so now I am just being as careful as I can and trying my best not to injure it anymore.

This is the pictures that was sent to Mom

This week we were able to teach our two progressing investigators!! We taught Adrian on Tuesday, and it went really well. We have been inviting members to everyone of our lessons and that day we taught the Plan of Salvation with Kelcy and Mike. It was so good! On Sunday Kelcy got up and bore her testimony about how much the lesson helped strengthen her. It was really cool that your lessons are not just helping the investigator but they are helping the members there. It really was amazing. Adrian is progressing well. We are making sure he understands all of our lessons, and reteach them if he doesn't. It truly is amazing to teach people and then ask them what we have taught and they can say it back to us. I love it so much!

Sister Leota, Chaylee, Sister Morgan

We were also able to teach our other investigator Ernest this week. It was a good lesson. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him. I never realized how much that chapter focuses on baptism. It is exactly what we needed when we taught him. It was amazing! We were able to teach that lesson on the temple grounds. That is my favorite place to teach. The Spirit is just so strong!!! We got to teach Ernest twice this week. The second time we read chapter 12 of 3 Nephi. It was a different spirit, but I hope he understood. Ernest is going through some really difficult times right now. We are trying our best to help him, but I have come to realize that it is all up to him if he truly wants to accept the gospel, become clean from all of his sins and be free from his troubles. It is a choice that everyone we teach has to make.

Because we are the singles ward we get to go to a lot of really fun activities. This past week we had FHE, which was crab soccer. It was fun to watch. We were also able to be in break the fast. It is so nice to be able to be around these wonderful young adults. I am really going to miss them if I get transferred. They have all become my friends and I hope to never loose contact with them, like ever.

This past Saturday was the General Womens Broadcast. I have to say that I started crying even before the meeting actually started. There was something in the Spirit there that was so strong. It was amazing to sit with wonderful women, and girls. It really made me feel like I was at home. There were so many girls there at the stake center. The speakers were also amazing. If you have not watched it please go and watch it. It is amazing! The Spirit is just so strong!

This past week has just been crazy. With the doctors appointment and then last night I hurt our car... We were coming out of ward prayer (my favorite thing ever!) Last night I got in a small accident. While I was leaving Bishop's house to go and pick up Sister Morgan from her appointment, and instead of following what Sister Letoa wanted to do and backing out of the driveway, I decided to pull forward and around. I ended up misjudging how much room I had for the car in between another car and a small brick wall. I ended up hitting the brick wall, and causing a very large dent and scratch in the door. No one got hurt, and it was only the mission vehicle that got damaged. It was crazy. I kinda went into shock when it happened. Everything was going so fast. I ended up running into Bishop's home and just kinda looked at Bishop and was like, 'I ruined the car'. I had gotten the car stuck while trying to move it. It was so frightening!! I have never done that before. I hope that everything will be okay.

Well, I love you all so much!! This next week is going to go great! I know that the Lord answers our prayers. Have a wonderful conference weekend! Before you watch conference, go in with a question. I promise that it will be answered.

I know that this gospel it true! I know that our prayers our answered! I know that I would not be here without the gospel. I am strong, and growing stronger in my faith everyday. You can too, just ask.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week full of miracles!! <3<3<3<3

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