May 30, 2012

Hey Momma! Sorry i have not emailed you this week yet, we got a call on sunday telling us that we would be having temple day this week! That means that monday becomes a proselyting day and then on wednesday we go to the temple and have preparation day after the temple trip until 6. Which means we got to go to the temple today! It was so great. I was hoping that some miracle would happen and i would see Robby there but not this time. If you are wondering, the session was in english. I was too scared to do one in chinese this time. The blessings of the temple are huge, you are so right! I am so grateful that we got the chance to go to the temple! It only happens every two move calls and only some of the more northern zones get to go. The spirit is so strong there and i learn each time i go. What an amazing blessing it is to have temples, the house of the Lord where we can go to be closer to Him and be more receptive to His spirit.

 

This week was my first opportunity to teach a lesson by myself! We had set up with investigators at 1, 1:30 and 2 at the chapel, When we arrived at the chapel at 12:45 our 2 o clock lesson was already there! We had to split up and each teach one investigator by ourselves. I was a little nervous at first but the lesson went pretty well. I taught the plan of salvation. It was with a new investigator named brother Wang. He is fantastic. In our first lesson with him my companion and I thought he was a former investigator or a member messing with us because when we asked what he knew about the meaning of baptism, prophets, and about Jesus Christ's life he seriosuly used phrases straight out of preach my gospel. We were so confused. Apparantely he has been baptized in another christian church here and knows quite abit about christianity which seems to not be very common in taiwan. The spirit is strong in our lessons and he is progress very well! The Lord is preparing people right now!

 

This week i started reading Jesus the Christ. If you have not read it, read it. If you have already read it, read it again! I love that book. The testimony in it of the divine calling of Jesus Christ as our saviour and reedemer is so very strong and i have learned alot while reading it, though i am only in the second chapter right now. Every time i read it my desire to testify to everyone of our saviour Jesus Christ grows stronger and stronger, just as we have been told, as our knowledge of the gospel grows, our desire to share it grows also.

 

Also, if you have not seen On the Lord's Errand, the movie about the life of Thomas S. Monson, you must watch it! Thomas S. Monson is truly a prohet of God and is guiding our church today according to God's will. I look up to him so much as an amazing example of a Christlike person and am grateful for all that he does in service of the Lord and his fellow men.

 

I forgot to bring my camera this time! I am sorry! Wow Connor does look so much like Dustin! He is getting so much bigger! Tell Stephen Jr. to stop trying so hard to look like dad, especially the white hair! Haha love and miss you bro. Tell Celeste that if she hasn't made that CD yet add some freddie ashby on there like come thou fount. Thanks sister i love you bunches! Hope all is well at home, i will talk to you on monday!   Love- Elder Ripley

Random pictures

May 21, 2012

So i just typed up a letter to send and some how deleted everything i typed with the click of two keys...sorry if this weeks letter is a little short.

Well hello family! Sounds like you are staying busy momma. I cant believe you swam either! It has been a long time since i have seen you or dad swim! Seems like you had a fun week! Hope all the dance recitals went well!

This week was a little crazy! We had elder walker come stay with us in our apartment for a few days because his old companion became a trainer and the new missionaries got here on wednesday but he doesn't go to his new area until monday (today) because unless you are a trainer you don't find out where you are going until the last sunday of the move call. Move calls are every 6 weeks. It turns out he was in the MTC with Robby! So cool! He showed me some pictures of them in the MTC, but they weren't quite as good as the one with the monkey ha that is a sweet picture.

This week we had a great lesson with Hai who is one of the brothers that got baptized this week! We talked about the foundation of faith. President Eyring gave a talk about this in conference. He said the start to building the foundation of our faith is personal integrity, consistantly choosing what is right. He also said if the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble. Making little right decisions everyday makes such a huge difference! I have definitely seen in my life, when i just focus on what i am doing right now and making the best of the moment, overtime the results are huge! Our faith grows through every day decisions.

It was kind of funny. We were at the chapel talking to sister Lee (who is actually Miranda Lee's sister! So crazy! She is in the area right next to mine but we share the same chapel.) about filling up the font and she says wait you guys have a baptism tomorrow? And we go yeah...and she says we have two baptisms tomorrow at 7 too! So it turns out we had a combined baptismal service with four people getting baptized! It was so great. Hai and Wu are very blessed to be getting baptized together. Now for the rest of their lives they will have a brother in the gospel going through the same experiences as the other. It has been amazing to watch these boys change their lives for the Lord. I am very grateful to have been a part of this proccess! It has been a wonderful blessing and experience for me to watch their faith grow, and it has strengthened my faith as well.

I hope all is well at home. Tell dad thank you for the camera cord! I will be sending some pictures along with this so watch out for them. I also got the package you sent me with the letters from everyone in it and the pedigree chart thanks mom! I love to hear how everyone is doing. I also love the pictures you send! That is a pretty sweet looking car celeste, i could see you driving that. Love you all and have a great week! Tell the relief society thanks for the letters they sent me, they are so great! I really appreciated that. The pictures will come in a few different emails. This one has ninja turtle pizza ones!

May 14, 2012

It was so great to get to see all of your smiling faces today! I am so grateful for all the love and support from you guys, i rely on it everyday! I am sorry i didn't get to talk to everyone. Happy Mother's day Mom! I love you and hope you had an amazing Mother's day. I am so grateful for the example you are to me of selfless service and dilligently working to become better. Miss you bunches! Happy birthday Dustin! Don't get too old and lazy before i get home, you better be careful or i will be able to take you by the time i get back!  Happy birthday to Heather, Becki, and Blythe too! I hope you all sweet birthdays. Send me some pizelles if you get the chance :D And tell Celeste i got thinking about what food i miss and i realized how bad i really do miss good cereal. Eggo waffle cereal, rice krispy treat cereal, cinnabon cereal, honeycomb, all the good stuff. Tell Dad i loved his song he made for me i think i am going to start singing it and maybe put in a guitar part.  Love you all and have the best week ever!

April 7, 2012

Hello dear family! I am in kind of a rush today because we had a birthday party at the church for Elder Bailey and Elder Miller today and we got done a little later than expected, and we still need to go buy some groceries! I Also forgot to bring my journal and other things that i write down to try and help sum up my experiences every week so i am sorry if i can't think of much. It is hard to remember because everything goes by so quickly! Thanks for the cute pictures of everyone! I love to see what is going on back in the good ole' AZ. Tell Dad that was a pretty good trade for my car. and celeste, bailey, natalie, and rachelle are lookin great. Love them all.

 

Good news this week! Brother Wu and his little brother Hai are getting baptized next saturday! Their mother was not wanting them to get baptized for awhile because she didn't think they were ready yet. She thought they still had some behavior problems that needed to be fixed, which is funny because it is not often a non member parent doesnt want their kids to be baptized for a reason like that. She wants them to be baptized but wanted them to change first. But, now they are ready! They are both the strong silent type i guess you could say, but when you talk to them you just feel of their growing testimonies and their desire to be baptized and start a new life in the gospel.

 

This last sunday i really felt the power of fasting and prayer! After a few hours of study my companion and I went to get back on our bikes. (We have afternoon studies on sundays because we have morning church) I was pretty exhausted from fasting and doing our morning tasks we had planned. but i said a prayer that Heavenly Father would give me the energy and fire to serve him and work hard the whole rest of the day. After my prayer i got up and went out to work! The hunger was most definitely still there, but i had energy and desire to do the work of the Lord, and i know it was through the power of prayer that this change came about. I just want to express to you guys the power of prayer! I know that as we say sincere prayers and recognize that our Father in Heaven is listening to us right then, that we really can feel and rely on that strength and power that our Father wants to and is willing to give us. We just need to be worthy and ask for it!

 

Next week i will get to skype you! I will call your skype account around 8AM on Monday morning next week which will be about 6PM for you i think and i can skype for about 30-40 minutes. If that is not a good time just email me. I will check my email at 8AM next monday. Also, please let me know your skype name so i can find you easily! Tell Brother Smith i just got his letter today and thanks a whole bunch again! I love his letters, tell him i will write back soon. Sorry my email is a bit short. Next week i will tell you more! Oh yes, and i got my green box the other day! I love it! Oh boy it is nice to have snacks to munch on and I love getting letters from the family and our sacrament meeting programs and the other missionaries emails. Thanks for all of it, it was needed! I loved the quotes and poem as well :D And even the rags i was super happy about those! Thanks so much Momma and family, I love you and am so grateful for your support and love, it inspires me!