November 18, 2013

Hey momma! How was your week!? That is super cool you got to go to the missionaries zone conference! Was it fun? I am super curious as to how they do their zone conferences! When does the open house for the temple start? I can definitely bring some friends as well If I get the chance! Holy smokes That mission is huge!!! They almost have as many missionaries as we do here in our mission! Dang Becki and Stacy were lookin good for that 80s event! I want to see them bust out their 80s dance moves now!

This last week was an awesome week for us! First of all we had Brother Kings baptism!!!! He is doing so great. He has taught me so much about being a christlike person. He is so willing to sacrafice time, money, and whatever he has to help is family or friends that are in need. Such an awesome guy. He bore a pretty simple yet powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon after he was baptized. I felt the spirit so strong and was so grateful for such a special opportunity to attend his baptism. Their really is a special spirit at baptismal services! We also had our jiayi district conference yesterday and saturday which was so great, the members here are so pumped for jiayi to become a stake! They are all such great missionaries and dedicated members. The saturday night talks were all based completely on missionary work. They blew me away! Talk after talk, they were all so powerful! One member told a story that I think should be in the liahona!-He gave his friend a book of Mormon and his friend just put it next to his bed and never touched it again but one day the friends little brother snuck into is room and took the book, read it, and noticing the member had written his number in it he called the number telling the member he wanted to be baptized!! So awesome!! Missionary work is no doubt the most exciting and most rewarding work there is. I love doing it so much, it has become part of me! I love sharing my testimony and trying to help others feel the spirit, I find as many opportunites as I can every day to share how much the Gospel has blessed me and my family and how much it can bless others.

Thanks for all of your support and love mom, miss and love you bunches!

Oh yeah and be expecting a card in the mail soon, I know it is a little late, I put it in my bag and forgot to put it in the mail! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!       -Elder Ripley

 

November 11, 2013

I know Anthea is coming to Taizhong!! So awesome!!! She emailed me right after she got her call!! It is such a bummer though, she moved her report date back to feb 4th so she will get here right after I leave! She is a friend I met in hawaii if you were wondering. Yes we are taking all of the opportunites we can to go do fun stuff! The only hard part is I served in this zone for over a year over all already so I have been to alot of the nearby places for sight seeing and what not. My new companion has never served down here before though so we are going to be taking him around to some places. We are going to an amusement park today!! Woo! Oh by the way, the card you sent back to me for my camera was empty! There was nothing on it..weird! 

Elder Chia and I are doing so great. Last week was full of some crazy miracles! As for Bro King his baptism is this saturday! (You may not be seeing them because I have been really bad about sending them into the mission office :D) We found so many new investigators last week it was rediculous! It was the most new investigators I have found in a week on my entire mission! The Lord blessed us so much! We have been praying every single day to find families to meet with, and talking to everyone we meet about families and asking everyone if we can meet with their families. Elder Chia and I have alot of fun contacting people and getting to know people so we have been able to work together to find quite a few new people who want to learn about the Gospel. As for jiayi becoming a stake..it is getting there! We are working so hard! The zone is so excited about it. The district president came to our zone training meeting and spoke to the missionaries last week too which was super awesome! The branches here love the missionaries and the missionaries love the members. Well we gotta eat a quick lunch and get going to our roller coaster rides but I will send some cool pics soon! Love and miss you mom! Thank you so much for your love and prayers. They lift me up every single day. Have a wonderful week!    

-Elder Ripley

November 4, 2013

Hey Mom! Carson is married!! I am so sad I could not be there..I seriously have been so bummed about it! But I know Carson is probably the happiest man on earth right now so I am super happy for him as well! Mckenna sent me some pictures and it looks like everyone had a great time and Carson and Emma look GOOD!   This last week was a pretty great week. Elder Chia and I have similiar thoughts on alot of things so it makes it easy to work together, plan and set goals. We had a really fun week last week and worked hard! We found the coolest family ever that we are going to start teaching! A mom dad and two kids. Elder Chia and I are so excited to be working here in jiayi and helping this district become a stake! We are going to see some huge miracles here in the future! We love to be missionaries! Love and miss you mom, have a great week!  -Elder Ripley

Hey daddio! Sounds like church was really awesome this week! I know Chuck Smith's lessons are always great!   My new companion Elder Chia is super awesome! We are working pretty well together and are seeing a lot of success already! We are loving it here in Jiayi and are enjoying getting everyone really excited to have Jiayi become a stake. This really is such a great place. We are going to see miracles Dad. I know the Lord has special experiences in store for us here and we have some really amazing plans for these next few months. I am loving it so much and cant believe how quickly time goes. Hope you have another fantastic week Dad, love you!  -Elder Ripley 

October 28, 2013

Karson is home!?! Holy smokes this is crazy! I can't believe how fast time is flying. He looks pretty good!
We found another pretty awesome family this last week as well! A few weeks ago after the saturday afternoon session of conference we went to get some burgers at a nearby place and this guy just walked up to me and started asking about english class saying he wanted to take his kids.
So crazy news, We were not expecting it at all but my companion moved! Elder Furner took off to taizhong and my new companion is Elder Chia! I am definitely going to miss Elder Furner and the spirit he brings to the work. Elder Chia just got off the train a few hours ago but I can already feel that he is a very Christlike missionary and we are going to see alot of success together! He is from singapore!
Well I hope you have a great week this week! Miss and love you so much!  Thank you so much for your prayers and support mom, I seriously feel them everyday. Just the other day while we were teaching that family about prayer I shared with them how I feel when my parents pray for me, and that their kids will feel the same way as they pray for them. Have an awesome week!



Can't believe Karson is home! And Carson is almost married! This is just too crazy! Whos next!? The fall festival was definitely alot of fun. Did you cook up some hot dogs for everyone? I am sure everyone loved it. Did they do dunk the bishop again too?
The work is going great Dad. Our zone just gets stronger every move call. President is really building it up over here. It is really awesome because alot of the people from my same generation are here right now. President really wants jiayi to become a stake. We are really going to see miracles these next few move calls. President is really pushing to have us work with the wards closer and closer as well which is easy because he is technically the stake president here, so he comes and visits often. Exciting times in jiayi! I am loving missionary work so much Dad, I didn't even know what to expect when I first came out but now I am finally realizing how much this has changed my life. Thank you so much for all the advice you have given to me I use it everday! Love you dad, have an awesome week!

October 21, 2013

10/21/13
Hey mom!! How was your week? Dad was said at the game he was close to calling the police to get you settled down! Sounds like you really had fun! Haha. That is so crazy seeing a picture of you guys with Robby! Tell him to hurry up and email me!
This last week was pretty awesome! We saw tons of miracles! We found quite a few people who are interested in learning about the Gospel! The coolest one was probably yesterday. We had a referral from the other elders that live here in jiayi who they found from accidentally going to the wrong area and tracting. (It was in one of our secondary areas that is a little bit further away, so just finding the place was a miracle in and of itself) A brother in our ward offered to help us out on sunday night like go to lessons with us and what not and we told him we were going to that area abit further out and he offered to drive us! Sweet!
Well I miss and love you mom. Hope you have a fantastic week this week! 
Love your favorite child :) -Elder Ripley