Elder Holland and Ipads

Hello Family and Friends,

How are you doing?? I have been fantastic! Christmas was amazing!!! :)

I'm so glad I got to talk to my family, it lifted my spirit so much! I'm basically ready to tackle the world now. I sent Carl-Thomas a letter this week for his birthday. I hope he gets it. Will you tell him HAPPY BIRTHDAY and that I love him very much!!! :)

So this week our Mission President told the whole mission that we need to be tracting an hour every single day... Sister Stanley and I looked at each other and we're like well. We got this. Haha, we go tracting all the time and its basically awesome! Although sometimes people are mean but we just smile and let them know that God loves them! 

OH! Elder HOLLAND is coming on the 11th!! He is speaking to the Gilbert, Mesa, and Scotsdale Missions. It should be beyond amazing!! And the Crowther kids are going to be baptized that same day. Its going to be the most spiritual day ever and I can't wait!!! :)

Also, we might be getting our Ipads this month, but we'll have to see. President honestly doesn't know when they're coming so when they show up it will be a great day!! I hope it's this month. Apparently it has apps for Weekly Planning and it's much easier with the App. It's really difficult planning for the next week with 6 missionaries in one ward but each week we get better at working with the other missionaries. 

On New Years Eve we have to be in our homes by 6:00 because everyone likes to get drunk that day. Our Zone Leaders is pretty nervous about it though, his girlfriend's mom was hit by a drunk driver on New Years Day so he keeps warning us to be really careful! We're going to cook something in our Crockpot and play board games. It should be a great night! Can you believe its already 2014??? WOW!! 

 

Anyways today is my 2 month mark, I cant believe I've been out for so long!

I hope you all have a great week!! 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

-Sister Raubenheimer

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic white Christmas... its like 65 degrees outside. I won't even need to wear a jacket on Christmas... :)

Anyways, this week was super good!!! We had so many Christmas parties. And we did this really cool thing where the mission gave us 200 balloons with lights on the ends of them. They represented the 200 baptisms we've had since the mission opened in July. So we sang silent night and then let go of our balloons and watched the lights shine in the night sky. Its the same with those 200 people who received the gospel this year. Their light will shine for the whole world to see. It was such an awesome experience!! :)

Also, we got a crock pot and a recipe book for our house. We'll probably make something on Christmas Eve with it. I CANT WAIT!! Our little house looks so cute, we have four trees (one for each sister in the house) and Christmas lights and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. SO FUN!!

Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I want to thank everyone for sending me so many lovely cards and packages!

A big THANKS to Evan's Mom and Dad, and I also got a package from Evan! :) I got a package from the Egberts, what a wonderful surprise. Thank you!! I received a lot of letters this week! I wanted to say Thank you to the Fausetts, and the Doermanns! You're letters were so cute!! :)

The support I get from everyone helps so much! Love you all!!!

So FRANCELIA came to church!!! She is our new investigator! We found her when we went tracting last week!!! She is progressing so much and she is so ready to be a part of this church. She already has a testimony of everything, its so cool to see how the Lord has prepared her. She's going away for Christmas and hopefully when she comes back she will commit to a baptismal date!!! :)

Overall, I am doing well!!!

I cant wait for Christmas!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Hugs and Kisses to my babies!

-Sister Raubenheimer 

 

Palm Trees with lights

Dear Family and Friends,

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, may the Lord bless you as we celebrate the Savior's birth this year.

So this week was awesome!!

We went to see the Christmas Lights with a family and it was so beautiful!! The lights were really really awesome, the only thing that threw me off was the lights on the Palm Trees. Kinda weird but still beautiful!! 

We also went tracting this week... (p.s. our mission doesn't tract).... but our ward mission leader wants us to tract so we went out. AND the first time was a good experience but terrifying at the same time. We didn't really find anyone that time but the second time we went out to tract we took a ward missionary and we found a lady name Francellia. We taught the first lesson on the door step and got a return appointment for today. It was totally amazing!!

Teaching the lessons is going well, every single time we teach them its completely different. I guess that's how the Holy Ghost works, some people need to hear the lessons differently than other people do. And I don't really talk as much as I should. Im good at testifying and confirming what Sister Stanley says but I don't really talk that much. I get told all the time that  I must be a new missionary because I'm quiet. Im trying to be louder and express my feelings but I just like to watch and observe. My goal is to become an assertive missionary and take lead in the lessons. So we'll see how that goes.

Transfer meeting is on Wednesday and my companion and I are staying together!! But my district leader (who shares the ward with us) will be transferred, which means we're getting a new district leader and a new partner in crime. I am so grateful I'm not leaving right before Christmas. I love my area and the people here so it will be an awesome Christmas. Christmas will be a full P-Day so I'll probably be able to Skype at like 11 or so. P-Days end at 6 but then we are having a Christmas zone party and we get to watch The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe. And on Christmas Eve we will be caroling as a zone!! I'm really excited about that!! Cant wait! Christmas is my favorite but I miss the snow. It was like 65 degrees yesterday... yup. I dont have to wear a coat or anything. Its the life!!

We don't know anything about the Open House so I'll let you know when we do, there's a rumor it might have to stay open 24 hours a day. But who knows. Everyone is so excited about it and it looks so amazing!!! I can't wait to see the inside of it. We also get to go to the Mesa Temple again this week for the Mission Christmas party which is on Thursday. I love going to the temple, it brings peace to my heart!! :)

I hope I answered all your questions dad. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

P.S. Im sending my package today so NO ONE OPEN IT UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE!!

I hope you all like it.

Send my love to everyone, especially my babies! 

LOVE,

Sister Raubenheimer

(Sorry there aren't any pictures, next week!)

A Wedding, Ice Skating, and A Prank Call

Hello Dear Family and Friends,

 I want to start off this email by telling everyone how much I love the gospel. Its truly amazing how much the Lord looks out for us as missionaries. I know whenever I pray (which is a lot) He is listening and will answer my prayers. I love being able to decipher what the Lord needs that day. We've had so many experiences that testify to me of the Lord's divine hand in our lives each and every moment. 

So this Saturday was AMAZING. Kevin and Lisa were married and Kevin was baptized. They both had really great experiences even though the actual wedding was only five minutes. I was like c'mon Bishop you could have elaborated just a little bit. But they loved it so I guess he was listening to the Spirit. Then Kevin was baptized, so fantastic!! The spirit was so strong and I know that he felt it! What a glorious day!! :)

Unfortunately the Crowthers postponed their baptismal day.... because they have a very blended family and it was hard to get all the other parents and grandparents there on that day... so January 11th! 

Last PDay we went Ice Skating! So much fun, and I didnt even fall down. Which was surprising to me!! We had so much fun as a zone. I love my zone and especially my Zone Leaders, Elder Lybbert and Elder Lopez. They are so fun but serious at the same time. The other day they prank called us and asked us if we were the ministers they talked to the other day. Haha I guess they were checking up on our phone answering skills but we recognized them right away! 

We're going to the Mesa Temple on Wednesday, I CANT WAIT!!! It couldn't be at a better time. Also I will be going on my first exchange tonight. So Im kinda nervous but excited at the same time. I will be going to Gilbert to be with Sister Monson, it will be interesting to see how different it is from Florence. 

Did you watch the 1st Presidency's Devotional last night, the Sister in the Primary Presidency mentioned Gilbert Arizona. Cool eh??

Also, if you every feel the desire to send me cool general conference talks or inspiring quotes I wouldn't be opposed to receiving those. Sometimes its nice to read something other than the scriptures. 

So Transfers are on December 18th, and we'll know the sunday before if we're being transferred. I'll let you know next PDAy. I dont think we will be moved, we haven't been here for long enough. They're trying to keep people in their zones for at least 3 months. But Im sure at least one of the Elders we're working with in our ward will be transferred. Im really excited for Christmas because we have so many parties going on! And Christmas will be a PDay and then when PDay ends at 6:00 we'll have a Zone Party and we get to watch the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Im super excited!!! :)

I hope you all have a fantastic week!! 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Give lots of hugs and kisses to my little children. 

 

Thanksgiving

Hello Family and Friends

This week has been absolutely crazy. Never a dull moment as a missionary. Jacob's baptism was on Saturday and it was AMAZING!!! I'm so grateful for him and his awesome little testimony. One month down and one baptism! So Lisa and Kevin are still getting married on Saturday but Lisa isn't getting baptized because she can't quit smoking. Its too stressful with the craziness that has happened in her life lately. However, Kevin is still getting baptized and we look forward to that. The Crowthers are also still on date for Saturday so I'm super excited for their baptisms as well!!! :)

Thanksgiving was great! We had so much food. Three meals and we were heading to another house. I told Sister Stanley I couldn't do it anymore and I was seriously on the verge of tears. She says to me "Sister Raubenheimer, Pray to Jesus, He will take your pain away". I did and as I walked up the stairs to their house my stomach pains went away. Thank the Heavens because I was seriously going to explode.

Overall, Im exhausted mentally, physically, and spiritually but its all part of the plan. I love missionary work! I can't wait till I'm a pro missionary because right now I feel very small. I guess that will come with time and practice!

The people we meet everyday are so awesome but they seriously are having a hard time in life right now. Two teenagers we know told us how they think about killing themselves... Life is tough for those kiddos and the only thing that we can tell them that will make a difference is to testify how much God loves them!! I hope we make a difference in their lives because they are so special to us and Heavenly Father!!  

Uncle Simon- Thank you to the Raubenheimers for the lovely letters!! It totally made my day. Im so grateful for your support! I hope you had a great thanksgiving!!

Sending my love to all!

Especially my cute little siblings that I miss so much!!

 

Hugs and kisses to all!!

-Sister Raubenheimer