Re:

On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 4:12 PM, Rebecca Redd <rebecca.redd@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Oh boy...

So A LOT happened these last 2 weeks...

First I'll explain why i'm emailing on a Thursday and not a Monday.

WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE! And let me tell you...it was AWESOME! There is honestly no where like the temple, and being able to go with my friends and with members i love so much was GREAT :) 

But anyways because of that today is our p-day instead of this past Monday.

K sooo like a said a ton happened....but i will do my best to sum it all up into a few stories...

I will start with the Homes Family :)

Man do i LOVE that family... This week we were able to teach them the Word of Wisdom. I was so nervous..But it ended up going so well! At first they were a little hesitant but just explained how important it is, and sister Huntington and I both have super strong testimonies of the word of wisdom and so we just bore testimony, invited them to live it, and they said okay :) haha they said that they'd start with smoking :) They're now down from 1 1/2 packs a day EACH to a little under a pack a day... SO they're getting there :) Other than that, theyre doing good, and our ward is really coming around to help them soo hopefully things will continue to go awesome!

Oh and one other cool thing, During one of our lessons the MOM pulled out this really old quote that her grandmother gave her when she was younger. She was all excited to show us, and when we ready it it was the Hymn "Did you think to pray?" She thinks some one in her family used to be a member! it was cool.

We visited a lot of people and i had a few mini freak outs this week where the fact that i was going home started to click in my mind...NOT cool.. haha I am REALLY going to miss being a missionary, this is the greatest calling...and sometimes i really dont want to give it up haha. But its okay im doing good and im getting used to the idea...

We had a SUPER cool miracle this week! So one night sister Huntington and i sat down to do our nightly planning, i was looking at our area map, and i saw this little road that goes WAY up into the mountain..so i looked as sister Huntington and said, we should drive up there! i bet no one ever goes up there!

So we decided we'd go all the way up the mountain...So the next day that what we go do and going up the mountain, this road is lined with little trailer homes. At the very top though the road dead ends into this MASSIVE home. we stopped admired it and then turned around to find a house to knock on. We got 1/4 of a mile down the road when we looked at each other and were realized how dumb it was that we went to the very top and didn't knock on their door! so we went back up and right when we got there, a girl came out of the house. We talked to her for a second and almost immediately she invited us in. As we kept talking to us she told us she used to go to church and be religious but she had kind of fell away from it and was wanting to get back into it. We were so excited and told her that as missionaries our job was to help people do that. Then she told us she wanted to be baptized! she said it was something she had always wanted to do. So it was super exciting! haha we were all pumped about it! We'll be meeting with her tomorrow, so hopefully it goes well!!!

WE also had zone conference where i got to see a lot of the people i had served with for the last time :( .....We met a crazy lady that only has one eye....Held a MASSIVE cockroach (3-3 1/2 inches long).... well ill elaborate a little more on that one....

this family has 40ish reptiles i their home...Snakes lizards and all sorts of stuff and they breed roaches and rats to feed them, but they have one roach who is the family favorite and the kids LOVE it, so Demetri (the big roach) was named and he isn't used as food, but it kept as a pet...its kinda weird...but cool....

We also helped a lady decorate her house for a big party she was having and insisted on taking pictures of us by this background thing we helped set up....and thats about it....

haha k so it doesn't seem as crazy when i write it down...but i felt like a LOT happened this week. The time is seriously FLYING by...

Everyday when i realize im going home soon, it just doesn't feel real.

I'm doing my best to make the most of it though and i am LOVING IT.

 I love the gospel,I love my calling,  I love being a missionary, I love it here.

I miss you all, and as much as i love it here, i am excited to be home and see you all again :)

Hope you guys are doing great :)

Love Sister Redd

Hey everyone!

So i lost track of time reading everyone's emails and so im a little rushed...So ill try and get the highlights in :)

SO the best thing happening is the Home family. They are THE BEST. It was kind of a rough week for them because they are having a LOT of hard things happen in their lives right now...But they are all so great and i LOVE them :) This week we were able to take them to a baptism and they LOVED it! We also taught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and about families being the central unit in the Gospel. It was great. I love when we just have lessons that are so filled with the spirit. One of the best things though was that after we said the closing prayer in one of our lessons, Mandy asked if she could ask us a question. She then Very seriously asked if we were allowed to show our ankles.... haha it was GREAT! we laughed and explained that we just wore boots all the time because it was really stinking cold up here for skirts :)

Man you gotta love the things people say about Mormon missionaries :)

Other cool things this week were that i got to help out on a farm, brushing horses and stuff and gathering the eggs/fixing a chicken coop. A horse sneezed on me...that was a good one haha. Umm It rained a TON.... I got to go to a Christmas party? haha apparently in Santa stays in Phelan well after Christmas...and thats about it.

I wish i had more time...but i will say one thing, as we have been trying to help the people here I have come to the overwhelming conclusion that life with out the gospel is..the worst. I am SO grateful that i have been blessed with know the gospel for my whole life because i have realized how hard it can be with out God's direction.

I think its a pretty good realization to come to in the last 4 weeks of your mission huh? haha 

Its crazy that everything is coming to a close soon, but just keep praying that i'll be able to finish strong :) because i definitely want to make the most of this!

I love you all SOOOO much!

Thanks for always writing me, even towards the end :)

Love 

Sister Becca Redd

p.s. for the few people that are allowed to come i added my departing devotional invite....kinda scary know that its already here!

Hey everyone!!!

So this was hands down the best week this transfer!!

God was blessing us left and right i loved it!!

Where to even begin!

Ill start by telling you that we found 5 new people to teach! and let me tell you...that's a lot for Phelan. Especially that they were 5 solid investigators!!

First there was JoAnn :) and she is the cutest, feisty, little lady. She is 81 and just a fire cracker. SO we had a member of another ward call us and tell us that JoAnn would be interested in the lessons. So we gave her a call and tried to set up an appointment (and this was last week) and we asked if we could meet on Saturday. JoAnn was VERY passionate when she told us "OH young ladies! according the the 4th commandment in the law, Saturday is the Sabbath! and i just don't feel that would be appropriate. I think we're going to have problems from the beginning!" we later agree to me on Tuesday. I won't lie, i was nervous that this lady was just going to ague with us, but when we got there Tuesday morning she was SOO sweet. She welcomed us in and sat down and was so eager to learn. She explained that she LOVES to study the scriptures and was very excited to learn about the Book of Mormon which she had heard a little bit about before. We haven't taught her again yet, but she came to our ward party on Friday and LOVED it! She told us that she had read and prayed about the Joseph smith and that she liked what she was feeling so far :) 

OH! and i almost forgot.. She at one point mentioned how her daughters names were Rebecca and Nancy. We then told her that those were our first names and she got sooo excited and started calling us "her daughters" in her thick Maine accent. It was sooo cute!

Next there is the Home family.. 

SOO if anyone remembers i've written a few emails about a Girl named Mandy. She this awesome girl with bright pink hair that we keep running into in the oddest of places. BUT! this week after running into so many times her Mom decided she wanted the whole family to start meeting with us! it was soo incredible... We shared the restoration and the spirit was just so strong. The mom was just in tears the whole time. 

But that's not the best part... SO that was Thursday. But on Friday morning sister Huntington and i were discussing a date that we could invite them to be baptized on. We couldn't decide. I said the 17th and she said the 30th (of January) and we couldn't really agree on a date. SO we decided to let it sit for a while and both pray that night and discuss the next morning. When we talked about it the next morning, sister Huntington said she felt like the 17th and i felt like the 30th haha. It was kind of a mess. So we kept talking about it and i told her that the only number i felt when i prayed was the number 7, which wasn't a day they could get baptized...so we went with 17th. Then Sunday they came to church. Right before church we gave them a tour of the church building just before church. When we showed them the baptismal font, they were just in awe of it. They said they had never seen anything having to do with baptism, but that they had all wanted to be baptized before. I was getting excited :) Sunday night we went and had a lesson with them. We read 3 nephi 11 and when we got to verse 33 we committed them to prepare to be baptized on January 17th. The Mom BURST into tears... She told us that her sister had passed away that day and that the numbers 7 and 17 have ALWAYS meant a lot to her because of that. We then were able to explain what had caused us to set that day, and the family was just in Shock. They were so excited and said yes! 

SO bottom line...I LOVE being a missionary. I LOVE being able to see how we are guided by God. And I LOVE to see how present his is in this children's lives..

Other than that.. our week was just normal missionary things, we saw a few miracles within our ward, and with in some of the part member families here. We had fun just doing Christmas things... OH that was the other big highlight. We had a missionary Christmas party and the young women from our ward showed up to give all of the missionaries scarfs that they had made! it was so cute :)

Anyways...I'm sorry my emails always get soo long..

Hopefully they're at least interesting.

I love you! and miss you all!!!

Hope you all have a great Christmas!!!

and i will talk to you (my family- sorry everybody else) then!

Love,

Sister Becca Redd

Okay thanks everyone for the mail and packages!

with the way the mail works in Phelan everything comes in waves and so this week a got all my packages for Christmas a few from thanksgiving! so it was really exciting, between me and sister Huntington there is a huge pile of boxes now, which makes for some pretty happy missionaries haha :)

Man where to begin with this week...

This week was really good. We tried our best to work really hard, and we have definitely seen some miracles for it.

One of the best things this week was Cheryl, (some one we've been teaching on and off since i got to Phelan)called us and said she wants to take the lessons again, AND that she has quit drinking! She had a really bad drinking problem and so its been tough for her, she has had some pretty bad withdraws, but she is doing so good now. She keeps talking about how much more she can feel God in her life now, and you can just see how much happier she is.

Another Highlight was that I got to go down the hill for a meeting for sister Huntington and all the new missionaries, which wouldn't seem like a highlight, BUT i got to see 2 of my old companions. Sister Cobabe was there and she leaves in 2 weeks so i got to say bye to her. It was also weird though because i had to say bye to a few missionaries my self (that was not a highlight). But i was grateful to see a bunch of the friends I've made over the last year.

K last cool thing that i will tell you all about, was this week we got to go to a dinner show thing that we have been helping out with lately. Its a just a dinner that the local HS puts on and the choir does a bunch of performances during it. It was AWESOME though because we got to sit with a bunch of non members, and basically half of the town was there. We were able to meet a ton of people the missionaries in the past had taught and talk to a lot of our potential investigators. Plus it was really fun to see all the kids in our ward (because almost all of them are in choir) perform. 

Oh! I'm not sure if i talked about how a few weeks ago we met a girl named Mandy and then some one sent us to her house as a referral, but we were able to see her there too, and it was really cool because she said her parents really want us to come over and meet them! 

Other than that we had lots of other cool little miracles. Lot of people can to church :) it rained a TON here, so a lot of the roads were basically just HUGE puddles and have been super fun to drive though...and I'm just excited about Christmas! so it was a great week :)

I love you all!

Sister Becca Redd

Alright.

Thanks for the emails everyone! 

I always have so much fun reading what everyone did this week and the funny stories you tell me :) It always makes me super happy and have something to laugh about for the rest of the day :)

This week was pretty fun, things were a little nuts, BUT it went is it not crazy when you're a missionary?

I won't go through the Whole week, but i wanted to talk about a few things.

1. I got to go on exchanges with on of my favorite sisters this week, sister Green. We've served together a lot and so it was really great to spend the day with her. It was crazy though because it's been raining here a lot recently. It rained for 2 days straight and so it was super muddy everywhere, and when sister Green was here it was SUPER FOGGY. The whole day we could only see about 30 feet in front of the car. So everything looked really creepy, but it was pretty exciting. i will see if i can send some pictures to show it off a little.

2. This week sister Huntington and i had a little mini miracle. We asked a member if we could help them with anything this week (as missionaries always do) She say yes though, which is pretty unusual. She asked if we could help make food for a dinner show that the local High School is in charge of. We got permission and were able to go and help cook a BUNCH of food. It was pretty fun though because if was like a professional kitchen and everything was HUGE. The mixing bowl was big enough for me to get in i think haha i felt like a little kid again. The Best part though was that a Recent Convert to the ward, Her mom was in charge of the whole thing. In the past she had a pretty rough opinion of the missionaries and didn't like them very much. Being able to just serve her though REALLY softened her heart. By the end of the first time we helped out she even gave us hugs! and by the third time we helped out, she even accepted help from us in her home! it was super cool to see how quickly her heart was softened :)

3. As for the work right now, its going pretty good. We're in the process of just trying to renew our teaching pool. As we have been trying to find i have really seen how the lord answers prayers. The days i earnestly pray to find someone to talk to, he makes it soo easy for us. And the days i forget a little..well, its is a lot harder... I think that is one thing i have really learned on my mission, the power of prayer is so real. I dont think i realized that as much before my mission, but it is so incredible. 

Through out this week there have been a few things that have made me realize how quickly my time as a mission is going, and as i have thought about that it has been really good. Just this past week i think i have realized how much i have changed, and how grateful i am that i have changed. The small and big lessons i have learned have really changed who i am. And i can't even begin to explain how grateful i am for them. I don't to write much more in this email because it is getting long, but i will say that i know the things i teach as a missionary, and that every missionary teaches is true. I know that God loves us and is SO involved in all of our lives. I know that when we feel like he isn't there, that we just need to look a little harder. 

I loe you all sooo much.

I miss you all

Love,

Sister Rebecca Redd

Hey everyone!

First of all Happy holidays!

It blows my mind that its already that time of year. 

It might just be that missions make the time go faster, but i really feel like it sneeked up on me this year. 

But this week was awesome!

First off my new companion is Sister Nancy Huntington. She's from Provo Utah and she crazy, but SUPER FUN! i love her already!

We have just hit the ground running this week, she's got all this energy of a new missionary and i love it! 

Anyways! a few of the exciting things this week...

On Monday we were able to meet a really cool girl at the library named Mandy. She told us that she had just moved her from Glendora and that she had a friend that was LDS. she told us that she LOVED the church and actually almost got baptized, but decided to be a teenager instead. She was super nice and we told her to flag us down and say hi if she ever saw us around and that we would love to talk to her sometime. THEN on Tuesday a less active family in our ward gave us a referral. They weren't sure of the address so they gave us some crazy directions...that lead us to the wrong house. We weren't sure what to do and it was freezing outside. So we were about to just leave when we decided to try on street over. We went and it was Mandy's house! We were about to talk to her and she is now considering coming to church :) It was super cool!

Also Cheryl our other investigator this week reset her baptismal date!

And she seems pretty committed to it this time. She called and told us we needed to see her everyday and that she already told her family about her baptism date. SO things are looking good for her!

Umm the only other things i can think of was that i BIFFED it HARD while i was running the other morning. I wasn't quite awake and tripped over a rock and just slide like 3ish feet on the dirt road...it was a little funny but now my hands and knees are a little torn up.

Also we went to go visit another referral we had (a little 80ish year old lady) and she started showing us how she makes home made teddy bears. She gave us each one and they are super cool. A little creepy, but mostly cool.

Anyways i will try and send some pictures next week.

BUT i  love and miss you all :)

I hope you all have a great week.

Love, Sister Becca Redd

Alright everyone...

Were getting down to the last little bit of my mission.

Sister Havens (current companion) Sister Cook and Sister Price (past comps.) all went home today. I also saw sister Cobabe (past comp) who goes home in 6 weeks and it was crazy to realize 1) that all my friends are ending their missions and 2) that I'm not far behind them!

Its crazy to think about...so i kind of avoid it haha, but its been so awesome to see the miracles that God is sending us :)

Oh also for the record. I will be staying in Phelan for the next transfer and training a new missionary :) Im nervous, but excited!

So the week started a little rough.. Sister Havens thought i'd be a good idea to promise God that she would stay focused her last week no matter what happened...So naturally all of our appointments fell though haha. But by Wednesday we were up and going again.

Friday was the BEST though. We had the opportunity to have a Zone Conference with Elder Golden who is a member of the 1st Quorum of the 70. I am slowly realizing that some of the people getting these don't know what that is (sorry it took me 15 months...) but basically he is someone who works directly under the Apostles.....and since being on my mission I've realize that i don't know what words are common vocabulary anymore....so Apostles are like Peter, James, and John from the bible. (also sometimes called Disciples) If that didn't clear it up i strongly recommend looking at LDS.ORG for a better definition.

ANYWAYS...He had like a 6 hour meeting where he just taught us and we were able to ask questions...and let me tell you...he was awesome!

I'll share a few thoughts that really stood out to me.

1) he is particularly fond of a phase Dad used to like when we were growing up...

 "you know what you do when you assume....you make and ass out of u and me" I thought this was pretty funny coming from a servant of the Lord, but he then talked about how we can never assume who will except the gospel or how people will react, if we do, not only do we hinder their progression, but we hinder our own.

2) When you are being obedient to the Lord, you can always trust the first impression you receive, the first one will be from the lord, and the second one will be from the adversary. I was able to really ponder this the following days, and realize how often i doubt myself, and the promptings i receive. So I've been working on my obedience and my trust in the spirit. And in the few times i have done this so far, amazing things have happened. We were able to have a great lesson about the importance of church attendance because i trusted in my first prompting to go see an investigator who had told us not to visit her for a while.

3) When we truly work our hardest, we will not need to say that we tried our best, because we will see success. This is God's work and it will succeed as long as will do what he has asked. I thought that was a super cool thought. and just made me want to work even harder then i am.

Basically it was just amazing to see how down to earth he is and see him talk about the gospel. the spirit was really strong.

Pretty much that was the highlights of the week.

I love hearing from you all!

i hope you all have a good week :)

thanks for always telling me the miracles you guys see in your days. I think its awesome to hear.

I love you,

Sister Becca Redd