A RayCay Christmas

Well hello! Hi! I sure had a super week this week! We had Noche Blanca on Christmas Eve and had baptisms all over the mission! We only had one in our area and it was this cute little Hispanic boy. But there were sooo many missionaries there and the spirit was just so strong and I got to sing Baby "What You Going to Be?" with one of the members I live with and it was all about the hope the Christ brought into the world when he was born. It was so awesome! But afterwords we went to a part member and her son's house. It really didn't feel like Christmas eve and when we went home we just went to bed. It was kind of weird but fine :) But Christmas was great!! It was probably one of my favorite Christmas's ever. I'm not even kidding. We woke up and I opened presents then we went upstairs and I got to Skype my family!!! It was sooo perfect. I wish I could've had more time but that's life. Specially missionary life. There's just never enough time :) But after we went to the mission home and spent and hour with the Bells and several other missionaries. Then we went straight to another part member family and had dinner/ lunch there, taught a lesson, and then went CAROLING!!! It was soo perfect. One of the sisters had a TON of candy. Like orange sticks and other boxes of chocolate. So we took a bunch of Joy to the world DVD's and headed out in the super creeper 12 passenger mission van. We gased up and sang to a few people while waiting. Totally found a new investigator there. Then we just visited people we knew and random houses next to them. It was so crazy! there was one moment when there was small puppy in front of our van that wouldn't move so one of the AP's got out and picked it up. Then a lady drove by and asked him for the dog and He said it was some one else's dog and she said well it's my dog now and took it and drove away!!! hahaha! He felt so bad! then we were driving and there was a scruffy looking man biking beside us so we leaned out of the window of our creepy van and gave him some Christmas candy and said MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! haha! Seriously the best ever! Life goal accomplished. We also met a bunch of people and got a ton of referrals :) Later that night we went to Griz's house. He really doesn't like Christmas because of all the commotion and was kind of grumpy when we saw him, but after a while with us he warmed up and was really happy. Especially when he gave us his Christmas presents! He got us hats to match his, grizzly bear socks, and a sweater that says RAYCAY (His real name is ray and CAY stands for cares about you) It was really the best Christmas ever :) haha! But we tried so hard all week to talk to steffanie. She was supposed to get baptized on the 24th by her son but was too stressed with family so we were shooting for the 28th, but that didn't work out either. Her son leaves on the 2nd so we might be able to get the 31st :) We'll see. We want her to be baptized by her son, but we don't want to push her. So we're really just playing it by ear. But last night we went over to her house and all of her kids are in town and usually they hide when we come over but we played a game with all of them. It was one of those where you make up a story as you go and it was so fun! we were all laughing. by the end of it I totally tied it into missionary work. haha! Her kids were like, ahhh! you sneaky! It was so funny! but we really bonded and I don't think they're scared of us anymore so hopfully we can talk to them more before they leave :) Well I was thinking of my dear sister Emily all of Friday and am so glad that the wedding went smoothly! When is Joe leaving? Tell my stinky brothers to write me! I miss them so much and they can just email me! I prefer hand letters because they're easier, but I'll take what I can get! Well I hope things are a little bit more clam a home and that you all have a super week! Love you!!! Love Sister Herrin

Christmas Morning Joy!

Sister Herrin called us this morning at 9:00 a.m. via Skype. At first sight of the family gathered round, my little Becca Boo teared up with JOY! We had a wonderful talk and shared many cyber-hugs. She expressed such a love for her mission, for her companion and for the Daley Family whom she is living with. Thankful hearts this Christmas for this wonderful gospel that brings families together, far and near. For the love of our Savior Jesus Christ, whose birth and life gives us a reason for the season.

Of Ulcers and Ice

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Holy holy wowzies. This was probably the craziest greatest week thus far :) Guess why? Sister Phadnis has an ulcer!!! How can this possibly be a good thing you might ask? Well. Sister Phadnis has been having stomach pains her whole mission basically and we thought it was a Gluten and Dairy allergy. Well last week she was having extreme pain and we finally talked to mission medical last Monday. She called a doctor on Tuesday for an appointment to find out what was wrong with her. Miracle #1 She had two possible doctors to see and called the first only to hang up mid voice recording. She just had a feeling to go with the next one and got a person on the other line to give her an appointment later that day!!! WOOO! Heavenly Father may have been putting her through all of this pain, but only to show her how much he wants to help her through it. Doctor said she was pretty sure it was an ulcer but testing would be expensive so she gave her some medication, and if it helped it was an ulcer. We were also just so happy to know what was causing her pain and were so happy the rest of the day! It made a huge difference in our teaching and the spirit was so much stronger with us! She even had this crazy feeling to go caroling to one of our investigators. We went over sang, and she just straight up said the spirit told me to come here. Why are we here. haha! Come to find out that they (he and his mother who is a member) were thinking about us and got a call that his grandpa's got 3 weeks left to live. This 28 year old man was so heart broken and you could just feel it. So we talked a little while, then had to leave and asked him to pray. He said no. So we suggested we all pray, each person adding to the prayer and just going in a circle. The spirit was so strong and when it was finally his turn he just pored out his soul! He hasn't prayed for almost 6 years and didn't think he would ever again. He was crying and we were all crying. It was so intense!!! That was an ulcer blessing!!! Miracle #2 SO. we go to pick up the medication and it was $140. Sister Phadnis didn't have enough money so she only bought 2 of the three medicines. We talked to mission medical and turns out that you can use two insurances and whatever your home insurance won't cover the mission's will. So my dear sister stops by the pharmacy 10 minutes before we have to be to my practice (I was singing in church) and the line was so long! Once we got to the counter she asked if she could get a refund for the big bucks she spent on her meds now that she had the 2nd insurance to cover her. She asked me to pray really hard with her. I really didn't want to because I was mad, but then I realized how dumb I was being and we both prayed super hard. Well ladies and gents, the Lord provides! and My Sister Phadnis felt so loved by Heavenly Father and was so happy. She felt horrible about making me late but she really needed that experience. I love her!!!! In other news. IT FINALLY SNOWED!!! On Saturday. It didn't snow on Sunday but church was still canceled because cute little Kansas doesn't know how to handle ice and snow. Even though they get it every year! They hardly plow anything and don't really salt the roads. So the ice stays on the roads forever. But luckily we know how to drive in ice and snow. Everyone likes to tell us that it's so different from driving in Utah and Idaho because all we get is snow. LIES. But I just nod and say yes, yes of course you're so right ok I love you :) hahaha! But we had a great Sunday! It was CRAZY. but great. really super awesome. We went over to steffaine's and shared some Christmas stuff. Then had a devotional with president Bell and we brought our investigators. Steffanine FINALLY got her baptismal interview. We went over to her house like four times this week trying to get her to let the Elders interview her but she's been very busy. :) She's on date for Noche Blanca but she might just get baptized this Saturday instead. She can never make up her mind. But gosh I sure love her. She gave me this awesome green shirt that she wants me to wear on st. patty's and some sweet 90's floral pants. AND a expedition Mt. Everest shirt from DISNEY WORLD. She's always like, Sister Herrin and I are Disney freaks :) Well. I probably have more to tell but that's ok It's mostly rambles. Ok I love you all and hope you have a very very very very Merry Merry Merry CHRISTMAS!!! :) I have some Christmas Cards coming out soon so get excited about that :) OK BYE! Love, Sister Herrin

Riding on the Wrong Side of the Bike

Well. This was a pretty interesting week. A perdy stressful week. Mostly because Sister Phadnis's Health issues have worsened. She found out that she is gluten and dairy intolerant a few weeks before I arrived in Kansas, and now it seems like no matter what she eats, it makes her sick and upset. So we start out on a crisp Tuesday morning where we have interviews with the President at eight, and we don't finish our bishop correlation until 7:45 and neither of us are ready because we where at the gym all since 5! We rush to look decent and I was a stressing, but I'm ready in a good ten minutes but my dear sister is having a melt down because none of her clothes fit her because of the weight she's gained. So we ended up finally arriving at the church 8:25. No big. Haha. But interviews went well. I love President Bell. Really he's just the sweetest man. He asked me what Christ like attribute I was working on, and I told him, Patience. Mostly with myself. haha! He was just like, Why are you sisters so hard on yourselves! I just don't understand it! the Lord loves you! Then he related how we all make mistakes and he had just made a huge one. The message of the missionaries going home six months early got to the church and he had a long phone call with them. So I shouldn't worry so much. After words we had a Christmas party/devotional and I sang I Stand All Amazed with Sister Phadnis. It was super spiritual! I love our mission :) But after food we played Book of Mormon charades. It was so funny! I acted out Moroni with the title of liberty and got really into it. One of the sisters recorded the very last bit of it and I tried to attach it for you but I don't know if it worked :) Anyways, it was a super day. But sister Phadnis felt so sick that we didn't go out in the evening. We also did exchanges! wooo! it was so awesome! I was with Sister Murry who's the sister training leader (sister zone leader) in our zone. She's so great and is convincing me to live in provo for a summer just for the music :) It's very enticing :) But we started by going to Janeth's house and she wasn't there. WHICH NEVER HAPPENS! I was so sad :( so we went knocking and came across some guys working on this house. We talked to them and they told us to check out the house and tell them how they were doing. Inside the house we found Jesus. Only pronounced hey sues! haha! It was a Hispanic man who called us sisters before we even introduced ourselves! He was so nice and we basically taught him the whole restoration in less than 10 minutes. He kept asking if we were like nuns and if we could have boyfriends. I didn't get that he was totally hitting on us until I shook his hand and he pulled me into an awkward man hug... it was so funny! and so apostate! oh well ;) But we gave him our number and hopefully we hear from him again!!! Then we went to visit one of Sister Murry's investigators, Carol. She's an older woman who lives by herself and is probably the cutest old lady I've ever seen. She's just so adorable :) haha! But we taught about the Plan of Salvation and she loved it so much! Because she was really close to her father and misses him so much! I felt prompted to give her one of the puzzles that Judy gave me. She was so happy and thankful when I did :) Then she said there was this Christmas video she really wanted to show us on her computer that some one from her old church sent to her. And it turned out to be a bible video! When we told her it was a video from our church she was so shocked! She kept saying, You're kidding me! and she even teared up! She was just so touched! We also visited Steffanie and had a team up with a sister from the ward. It all went to poop because there was a miscommunication on time and the sister was late and Steffanine was running out the door like a mad woman! So it was a little awkward. I felt so bad. Oh well. But over all exchanges were great and It was nice to have a break from the same person that I'm with everyday of my life, but I still missed her and was glad to have her back in my life at the end of it all :) Ok last funny story. So Saturday Sister Phadnis and I woke up not feeling so great especially sister Phadnis. But we had to bike to the church and she almost blacked out a few times. heading home we turned into our neighbor hood and I was behind sister phadnis. I made a big turn and came up right next to her on her left. She was looking behind her over her right shoulder and sat there for a good minute. I didn't say anything because I was out of breath and she turned around and started heading back to the church. Without saying anything to me! I was like, what are you doing, I'm tired! flippin say something to me! whatever. So I just followed her and prayed for understanding and patience the whole time. She finally stopped about a half mile out and I was like, did you forget something? She looked at me and almost cried! She thought she had lost me and didn't see me behind her and thought that I had died on the side of the road or something! It was so funny! and I really needed the laugh cause I was feeling a little crabby :) it was so funny! We still had to bike back but we were laughing the whole way. Heaven Father Loves us and wants us to be happy and laugh at ourselves every now and again. But we stayed in for the rest of the day because Sister Phadnis's stomach pains have gotten really bad and we don't know why. She she's trying a liquid diet and slowly introducing other foods in and seeing what feels good and what doesn't. So please pray for her health. I kind of like her ;) Anyways, I'm out of time so keep writing me please!!! I only got one letter this week and I know I should be grateful for at least one, I know that there are many friends who owe me letters and it makes me so sad to not hear from others. :( especially at Christmas time!!! I need more LOOOVE! I'm just needy ;) hahaha! anyways I hope that things are going well and that you're all having a very merry Christmas! Love Sister Herrin

Freeze up and Dye

December 9, 2013 Well Howdy! Ok, actually no one says that in Kansas, but it would be cool if they did :) HI! So this week we had a zone training and they played us a message from President Bell and he said that he got a letter from the 1st presidency saying that they had cut the mission serving periods by 6 months, so sisters would only serve for 12 months, and Elders only got 18. I was in shock. One of the zone leaders started to tear up because he would hit his 18 month mark in two weeks, and he wasn't ready to go home. All the sisters started crying and I was trying so hard not to, but the darn tears still came. I didn't know what I was going to do! I felt so jipped because I had been waiting to serve for so long! and I only had 12 months! I didn't want to come home early! Plus I was already out a month and I was not working nearly as hard or pushing myself as much as I could've been. I was so prepared after the meeting to be like, Sister Phadnis, here's how it's going down! haha! Then they talked to us about diligence and how much better we could be, and all talked about how we had so little time that we couldn't afford to slack off! It was really cool. But yeah, at the very end of it they told us it wasn't real and that we would still be serving 18 months and Elders 2 years. I was so mad!! I was trying so hard to be strong because I knew the prophets were inspired men and it would be all for good! but no, it was a joke. But it did help me realize how much better I could be and how much I have been slacking. So I guess that was the purpose. Oh well :) haha! it was president's idea and we have interviews tomorrow, so I plan on making him feel so bad for making me cry ;) haha! I really do love him so much! He's the sweetest. He called me this morning to ask if I could sing for our Christmas party tomorrow! cool right? haha! Christmas day won't be a day off, we'll still be proselyting so we're just celebrating early. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I'm so glad that I have the chance to be a missionary for 2 Christmas's instead of just one. I'm ready for the best Christ filled Christmas every! President Monson even said last night the best way to bring Christ into Christmas is to take off the last part of Christmas. Ok, also, Sunday morning we get up and are about to leave for church when the bishop's wife says, girls, it snowed last night, so church might be cancelled. I looked outside and didn't even see any snow on the ground, I kid you not! haha! but the little bit that did snow froze over and made the roads really slick. So I'll give them that ;) But it was extra slippery today because the dew from the night time just builds and builds on it so I totally biffed it walking down the dalely's drive way. My tail bone's a little sore hahah! it was so funny! and it happened again on the way up! so i just ended up crawling on my hands and knees... in my dress. :) hahaha! But Sister Daley says she has something that you attach to the bottoms of your shoes that help for walking on ice. I really don't know how biking's going to work out this week. because if the tires slip we might fall into the road and people can't stop as fast as they'd like.... So we might just be walking a LOT :) Steffanie's court was this Tuesday and we visited her before to help prep her and invite the spirit. It must have worked because she said that her ex husband got his but whipped! haha! She was so happy and grateful for us. She kept saying that she didn't want to brag because it wasn't a happy situation but she did because she got Hannah full time! We then read 1Nephi and talked about the tender mercies of the Lord and challenged her to pick out one everyday that he gives to her. She made us dinner the next night and her ex husband tagged along. It wasn't as awkward as it should've been but you could tell that he was trying to be super nice so that she would give him some things legal wise. After sister Phadnis dyed her hair a nice burnt orange and had extra dye left so she was like, Sister Herrin, let me dye a piece of you hair!!! I was like no way!!!! but then I gave in and she did. haha! it's hardly different at all and it was just a little piece by my neck, so you can't even see it. But I still dyed a piece of my hair. Which is awesome :) haha! We need to encourage her to keep her commitments better because she wasn't at church again this week which was super discouraging. She's just not making it a priority and other things keep getting in the way. So we're working with her. But I love her so much! :) Mom I want you to be her best friend. :) Grizz is now having nightly prayers with his wife. HOW GREAT IS THAT??? He is improving so much and I really love him! We had dinner with him twice this week and both times Grizz and I would get something a little less healthy, like pizza or sandwiches while sister phadnis and sister racobs would eat the more healthy things. It's pretty great hahaha! But Saturday we were talking about the word of wisdom and somehow we got onto the topic of God's character. Grizz doesn't believe that Heavenly Father can answer every one's prayer at the same time and that he cares enough to do so. He doesn't think that he knows the future because he says that would take away our agency. And he doesn't believe that the prophets are called of God. He just has so many issues and questions and it brakes my heart to hear it. I just want him to feel Heavenly Fathers love for him the way I do. I don't know. But we had to pray a few times to re invite the spirit because he sometimes gets upset but every time we did we felt better. He just doesn't associate it with the spirit. ahhh we have to really work with him. But I have faith that Heavenly Father will answer his prayers and that he will soften his sweet heart. It will work out ok :) Because he really is doing so much better compared to before! :) Karen's doing great and she made me a necklace! and Sister Phadnis some earrings! She's doing really well but just gets lonely and bored sometimes. So we told her about family history work and how awesome all of that is!! wooo!!!!! Well I'm out of time. I love you all and I hope it warms up! for your sake and mine!!!! The church is so true!!! Share it! :) Love Sister Herrin

Clean the font - we have a baptism!

Hiiiiiiii :) Hello, how are you how's it going. I'm great thanks! This week went swimmingly! Hint hint... :) KAREN GOT BAPTIZED!!! :D hahaha! It was such a great experience! But that was just on Saturday, so i'm going to start out more cronologically. The beginging of the week we had a meeting with the bishop, which was just upstairs, so we just had to throw on a dress and we were golden :) But we got a long list of less actives to vist so that night we bundled up, and set out on our bikes. No one was home, and one of the members had moved, but we met a nice lady on the way who we talked to for a bit. The next morning we got up early and biked to the gym to work out because that really makes Sister Phadnis happy, and it's good for me too, so I don't mind so much. But we had a hard time seeing a lot of people this week because once we would bike to one side of town, we wouldn't really have time or strenght to bike to the other side. Also it starts getting dark at 5:30 so we don't have much time. I don't like biking in the dark, or knocking on doors of people we don't know in the dark. But sister Phadnis is persistant, and I just need to have faith in her :) Thanks giving was great! we spent it with an older lady who's husband had just recently passed away. They were baptized in 2005 and LOVE missionaries :) She doesn't have much, but we were so grateful for what she shared. We visited a dropped in vestigator on our way out of the neighborhood named Angela. She looooves Jesus. She's getting his face tatooed on her thigh in a few weeks. hahaha! She's a very heavy smoker and I wonder how the bishop feels that Sister P and I always come home smelling like ciggarett smoke :) But Angela committed to coming to church this week, so we'll see how that turns out :) Anyways, later we were going to go to Stephanie's so we stopped by walgreens to get her a little thanksgiving gift. I found a box of thoes leaf shaped maple cookies that you used to get all the time mom? Anyways, Stephanie love them! So yeah, that was Thanksgiving :) Ok, so Saturday mornig was CRAZY! It started out by us biking to the church. On the way I found that the bottoms of my shoes had no grip so I couldn't keep them on my bike peddles. We were going to stop by Dillan's (same thing as Smith's) to get Karen something anyways, so I was hoping I could find a cheap pair of shoes to switch. No luck. I got some really thick diabetic socks instead, and rode in the socks for the rest of the way. WOOO! :) Then at the church we had to fill the font (which looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. The water that came out at first was yellow. It was so gross! We tried to clean it out as much as we could. The water coming out was freezing, then warm, the freezing! And it took forever to fill! Also we couldn't find the template for the baptism program so we tried to make one up on the oldest microsoft word ever! haha! Luckily the elders came to our rescue there and we got it sorted out. BUT 30 minutes before the baptism was suposed to start,we found out that the jumpsuit we took forever to find was too small for karen and we were scrambling. We were so close to just getting a sheet, cutting a hole in it, and tying it around her waist. But the Zone leaders called president Bell and he if she had some grey sweats, that would work. So we sent Karen back home to find some grey sweats. In the mean time the font still wasn't full! Then, a sister walking in and said that she had a temple dress that was like a tent that would fit Karen. HALLELUAH!! By the time everyone was gathered back to the church it was a half hour after the meeting should've started. But the temple dress fit over Karen's sweats, the font was full, and there were tons of people there to support her. It was perfect :) She looked so beautiful. The service was very sweet and simple. The talks were very heartfelt, and I got to sing "Come Home" for her. Best Day Ever. The spirit was so strong, and I could tell that she was feeling it. She's so great and I know heavenly father is very happy to have her back :) But we got to go over to Griz's house afterword for dinner. He has come such a long way. He was there at the baptism and had a few words for karen which were very sweet. He always talks about how he's still got such a long ways to go. I don't think he's relized how far he's come! We had a really good lesson with him that evening, and talked about baptism, and how God doesn't expect us to be perfect, but he wants us to try our hardest for him. He's so set on the idea that he has to be perfect before he can get baptized. We talked about how people can change, and I shared with him about how much I've changed, and how the Lord has helped me over come a lot of my falts. The spirit was so strong, and I know he felt it. I just hope he doesn't forget it. We met with Stephanie yesterday. She's been so stressed and has been really trying to organize her house. We helped her clean and I did her dishes. She had a cast iron pan with some foil over it and when I opend it, it was completely mold. Like, there wasn't anything undernieth, it was all mold. It smelled like nothing i've ever smelled before and I scrubed that sucker as clean as I could. Usually I would just throw the whole thing away, but Stephanie can't throw anything away, especially food. But she's had such a hard week, and is going through so much, I can hardly blame her. We had a really good lesson/ chat last night though as we helped her last night. Mom you would seriously LOVE this woman. I do! Honestly if i weren't a missionary we would still be best friends. We have a lot of things in common. Oh! and guess what!!! She totally went on the Disney meditarainian cruise that you and Dad wanted to go on for your 20th! She loves disney! She always says stuff like, "I would love your parents!" haha :) But she has court again this week so just keep her in your prayers. Heavenly Father loves her so much, and I feel it every time I see her! Anyways, I know all I do is talk about my investigators, but really they're so great and I love them!!! That's just missionary life for you! Well I hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving :) Write me some snail mail! It's so much easier to respond directly to :) The church is true! and guess what? It's Christmas time! Take Elder Ballard's challenge to heart and reach out to someone before Christmas! The Savior would LOVE that! :) Love, Sister Herrin