Good Bye Sister Partridge

Well I had to say good bye to Sister Partridge today. We were together for 3 months. Boy that time flew! I will really miss her. I cried saying good bye. She served a great mission. Everyone in church was so sad for her to go. She was in Meeker for 9 months! I get my new companion on Tuesday, and in the mean time I am in Rifle with the spanish sisters. Sister Pare' and Encarnacion. They are fun. I am training this transfer. I am really excited about that. A littler nervous too. Training is so important. It starts their mission off. It makes a huge impact. I'm so blessed to have had a good trainer.

Well crazy things happen every week!

Yesterday we were driving and on a turn we slid off the rode a little and ran into a snow bank and couldnt get out. We had our investigator Donald Hobbs pull us out. He made fun of us really bad because we just left their house and he told us to be careful. We were completely fine. It was all slow motion! I told Sister Partridge sorry as we were slidding off. The car and fine as well. The snow was a good cusion. I will be more careful. Lesson learned.

The Hobbs family is really fun to visit. They are so sweet. We begged them to give us a service project. Donald doesn't feel comfortable with us getting dirty doing service. Maybe after him having to pull us out of the snow bank he will let us do the dirty work. haha He did tell us we can look for antlers while picking up trash for service haha I already asked him if he would take Dad and Dane hunting with him on his land. He was all for it.

 Hunter is still getting baptized on Saturday in Meeker. I am so excited for him and his family. So many blessings are pouring onto them.

April decided not to get baptized on the 24th. She told us the night before. Her mom was very concerned for her and told her false beliefs. She still wants to meet with us, but she lives in Vernal Utah so I'm not sure when that will happen. I talked on the phone with her for a while. She asked to talk to me specifically because she feels a connection with me. I don't know why, but it felt nice. I told her how any fear and doubt only comes from Satan and that Heavenly Father only brings comfort. I told her that we can teach her more so she can be more confident. I also reminded her of the feelings she felt while watching the Restoration movie. She was alot more calm and felt better. We we will answer all her questions. She will get baptized in a few more weeks.

Also we helped clean out sheep pens at Anne Marie's house. While we were cleaning the one gave birth to a baby lamb! It was so neat! We also cleaned out the chicken coop. I was gagging the whole time. Nasty animals.  

On Sunday me and Sister Partridge sang "Lord I Would Follow Thee" in sacrament meeting. It went really well. She sang the first verse. I sang the second. We both sang the third in unison. The last verse we sang in harmony. It really brought the spirit into the meeting.

The photos are of Me and Sister Partridge, Hobbs family (I was taking the photo), Baby lamb and me,

Group of Sisters when we met up for Sister Partridge to go to Denver.  , cake decorating, Ward Mission leader and wife,

Well I better get going. I love you all so much!!!!

-Sister Gampe

The last photos are of me and Dillon, Donald Hobbs son. He proposed to me. He's adorable. 

Rachel's Baptism

Hey Everyone!

Rachel got baptized on the 16th!!! It was so wonderful! She has such a wonderful spirit! She was truly ready, and I know she will learn more and progress. She is so inspiring you have no clue! When she came out of the water, so many emotions flooded my body. Such a powerful spirit. Gary and his son Hunter, who is planning on getting baptized March 2nd went. We went out for dinner afterwards. I think they felt the spirit at the baptism. I loveeee Gary's family. They are so wonderful. :) Rachel said that she feels like a whole new woman. She said that she has noticed a difference in her life since having the Gift of the Holy Ghost as a constant companion.

Too bad she's a cute tiny girl, so we look like ogres next to her.

The other pictures I sent with Sister Pare' was on Wednesday when we went on exchanges. I went to Rifle with the Spanish Sisters and Sister Encarnacion went to Meeker in my place. We switched for 24 hours. When we drove half way to Rifle, me and Sister Partridge stopped on the side of the road. It was dark, but we pulled up near a barn. Then while we were waiting, we noticed a woman in the distance, but because it was dark we could only see a silouette. Then I noticed that we could see her holding a gun! Whoa! So I immediately turned on the light, waved, and then rolled down the window and said with the sweetest voice, "Hey sorry we are just waiting for a friend" She immediately said, "Okay sorry, I live out here alone and I thought you were going after my turkeys." That was a close one huh! haha well anyways. I went to Spanish lessons which was really neat. I taught 3 women how to speak english. I was able to understand them almost the whole time. What a blessing! It was a neat experience. Sister Pare' reminds me of the girl from the movie, "Enchanted"...yep Overall though, it was a good experience. She liked my footie pajamas. haha

The next photo we went to Anne Marie's house. She is less-active. Super wonderful. We knocked three times and no answer. So I RAN to the baby lambs! They were so sweet. Then we heard the door open after we were taking pictures. Yep she saw us. But good thing we stayed because then we got to set up an appointment to clean out the sheep cages...Pants here we come!

The next picture is of my district. We will probably all be getting moved around to different areas next week. Transfers are the 26th. Sister Partridge goes home so I am getting a new companion. I will miss her. :/ I think I might be training and possible two at once. I will find out on Friday. In our district we have Elder: Campbell, Jenkins, Sejas, Rivera, Hill, Mickelson, Hale, Schwegler, and White.

The last photo is of Joanne's puppy! She had a litter of 7 :) They are chocolate labs! So adorable! They snuggled right up to you. They are a two weeks old. We saw her literally this morning. She told us she needs to pause with taking the lessons. She explained with her addictive personallity she want's to make the decision of baptism when she has a clear mind. I understand. She has a lot going on with her family. She is wonderful and we will continue to be friends with her. I know this isnt the end. She said she will continue to pray and read the Book of Mormon. Maybe every now and then we can stop by and read a chapter with her.

Rayola Rust, our primary president recently got a extensive surgery. She was internally bleeding. We thought she wasn't going to make it. The doctors lost her 2 times, but brought her back. She recently overcame cancer. She is a fighter, thats for sure. She is home, but has tubes coming out of her stomach, so she is just sitting in a chair and can't do much. We stop by to give her company. We are going over tomorrow to clean and do laundry for her. When we stopped by two other ladies from our ward were over visiting. Isn't it wonderful how the members help eachother out. She does so much better when she has visitors with her. Sister Nielson has been staying with her some nights so she's not lonely. Shes a sweet woman. Both are.

April Rust, Rayola's daughter in law, is getting baptized on the 24th! We are so excited! We kept telling Rayola that Heavenly Father wouldn't take her yet because he wanted her at the baptism! April is so excited. She is ready. She has alot to learn, but that will come afterwards. She knows everything she needs to know if she should be baptized. She made HUGE wonderful changes in her life for this. She sees the blessings pouring in already.

On Friday we saw Laura. We finally taught her about The Law of Chastity. It was so hard to bring it up because her and her boy friend are living together with a son. We didn't want to hurt her feelings at all. Well it went well. We had to bring up the fact that she can't get baptized until she is married. It's sad because she want's to be married. She really really does. She's wonderful. She came to church for the second time! We were so happy because she was able to express her worry of coming to church not being married. We told her that no one is perfect and that is why we go to church. She is making alot of friends at church. We always invite her to activities. She loved when we talked about the temple. I see her being sealed to Ed and Dillan one day. :) She is so wonderful.

We saw Ray another investigator. He has been reading the Book of Mormon. He told us to come back the last time in a month. We finally were able to come back. He is neat! What a Bible Studier! Well anyways, he likes the Book of Mormon, but was confused because he started in the book of Mormon and Moroni. Hahah so he wasn't able to understand it all. hahaha He still had alot of questions. We explained and answered them all. He is such a logical thinker, so we will need to really pray for the approaches we take when we teach him. He enjoys discussing with us. Very respectful and sincerely wants to learn more.

We, Sister Partridge and I, sang on sunday in Relief Society. We sang, "Our Saviors Love". It went really well. We are singing next sunday in sacrament meeting, "Lord I Would Follow Thee"

I'm now reading in Helaman in The Book of Mormon. Wow Alma was good. So many afflictions, but as they endured with faith in Christ, they were able to get through them. Always remember how the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers the pains, sicknesses, hurt, guilt, and sins. Sometimes we just think it is sins, but it's much more. My favorite verse this week is

 1 Corinthians 11:15 because an Elder from the MTC sent me a letter with that verse because he likes long hair. hahaha I was dying laughing!

but for reals, my favorite reading was 1 Nephi 21: 9-11. We read it with Chris (he can't go to church because of work so we read with him every week) I loved it because Sister Partridge came up with how it compares to Christ because he lets all the prisoners go forth and brings light to the darkness. It's comparing it to Christ. But I interpreted it as missionary work. Go tell everyone our message. It brings light to their darkness of not knowing the Restored gospel. Christ will take care of them from there.

I love you all so much! Here is my Mission office address just incase:

Colorado Denver South Mission

999 East Tufts Ave.

Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113

-Sister Gampe

P.S. can you believe I've been serving for 4 months?! What!?

First Baptism

Hey Everyone!

 

This week was very busy! We had our first Baptism! That was awesome! Eddie Drussell. He is eight years old. His parents are both nonmembers. He is staying with a family in our ward and thats how he was introduced to the missionaries. He loves the gospel. :) The Baptism went really well. The spirit was really strong. His older sister, Jossie, who was baptized when she was 13, spoke on the Holy Ghost. It was one of the best Holy Ghost talks I've ever heard. I was so proud of her. She performed baptism for her Mom in the Temple. Her mom died when she was a little girl. They are powerful kids. What an example they are for everyone because they know so much about the gospel because of how much they study.

 

James, the investigator who showed up to church. We had a lesson with him on Thursday. Bishop asked us to have it at the church instead of his house. We had Bishop and Brother Nielson come to it. He was late because he said he just got out of the hospital because he had a "heart attack". We think it was an anxiety attack. But he lifted up his shirt and he had the stickers all over his chest haha. Well the lesson was powerful. The spirit was truly there. We invited him to be baptized on the 1st of March. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he seemed really excited. At the end he made some weird comments about having a dream about this mysterious girl reading him out of a book. Sister Partridge thinks he was referring to me because I was reading him The Book of Mormon. He's an add character, but he's going through a really tough time. He's been abandoned by his family. He was dating a girl that he refers as his fiance, but she just got a restraining order against him. eek. He's 19 years old. We got a call from him the next day asking us to meet with him because things were really bad and hard, but we can't be the ones he goes to. Were just not suppose to have the relationship nor do we have the time. It wouldn't be appropriate. Bishop asked us to have him sit with a family at church, but he didn't show up. That really suprised me and made me sad. We meet with him on Tuesday at the church. We are going to try to get younger men to the lesson who will make a good impact on him.

 

Rachel had her Baptism interview and went to Eddie's baptism as well. She is so excited and we are so excited for her! She is such a wonderful girl. We love visiting her. She's the type of person how "looks" like a member of the church. By the way she talks and carrys herself. Shes so sweet.

 

Hunter, Gary's son is also on date for Saturday. He want's to get baptized here in Meeker. We are so excited! That will be such a wonderful day!

Today after district meeting we did our grocery shopping and ate in Craig, then we played Zombie Apocalypse with the Elders in our district and the Zone leaders. So we had nerf guns and nerf swords and axes! Whoa there were so many! We picked 2 zombies and they hid all the amo and weapons through out the huge church building. (except chapel) Then they went in the gym and counted for a minute while everyone else ran looking for the weapons and hid. Once you get tagged by a zombie, your a zombie. But if the zombie is hit, they stop for 10 seconds. Any amo shot is dead. So you have to worry about running out of amo. (but not really because the amo was everywhere!) . It was so much fun!

 

One comment Brother Neilson said to me that made my day was after we had our lesson with James, maybe even the next night, but we walked inside and were talking to them for a little and Brother Nielson said "I would love to visit your parents to see if they even exist, because you walk on water." The Neilsons are just so kind. I love them so much.

 

I loved Alma 42 this week. It's all about Mercy and Justice. How Heavenly Father is able to incorporate both of those in his plan because of our Mediator, Jesus Christ.

 

I love the gospel so much. I know it's true. I know that our families can be together forever as long as we follow Christs examples. I'm so grateful for the Atonement. I know that all of our sorrows, pains, and sins can be changed to peace, joy, and comfort as long as we ask in daily prayer for help or forgiveness. I love our Savior and Heavenly Father. I love you all so much! Take care!

 

Love,

-Sister Gampe

 

Service Week

Hey Everyone!

 

Oh I got a wonderful package in the mail from my mom. It was a Gorgeous quilt she made for me on my mission. I knew she was making it because I sorta helped arrange it, which is 2% of the actual work of making a quilt. I was amazed when I saw it! It is just gorgeous! It's a kaleidoscope quilt. She put Minkie material on the back because I love how soft it is, even though the material is super hard to work with because it is stretchy. But the coolest part about the quilt is, she quilted "Sister Kendra Gampe" "Denver" "Colorado South" "The Third Day" "Moses 2:13" "Love Mom 2013" It is so neat! She even used multi colored thread on the floral materials and black on the black materials. I ignored her request to not show anyone (she didn't like how the minky turned out on the back) because it was gorgeous!!! I couldn't help it. Everyone I showed loved it so much! I love how big it is :) I took lots of pictures. I hope the detail showed up. :/ If not i'll take more for sure.

 

  So Brother Hanberg (young mens president here in Meeker) had a best friend in Billings, Mt. Now that is Dane's best friend. I also figured out that Brother Hanberg Served the Boise, ID mission and found a picture of Jace in his Missionary Directory! I was dying! Its such a small world! I'll send that picture as well.

 

We went over to the Hanbergs during the super bowl. They have no cable, so we ate a ton of food so we could still enjoy the fun. I ate way too much and thought I was going to puke!

 

On Sunday 20 minutes before church this guy, James came in and Bishop talked to him right away. No one knew who he was. Then Bishop introduced us to him. He right away started pouring out all the problems he's had all his life. And said that he climbed up to the lit up cross on the mountain and looked down on Meeker and saw our church and it was the brights one. So he walked to the church and he said he just fell to his knees in front of the door. He said he felt he needed to come. So I'm sitting next to him giving him some comfort and explaining some things we believe and how Heavenly Father loves him and how he was the one who is giving him the comfort during that prayer. It was after the sacrament and one testimony, he turns to me and says, "I'm sorry, but this is reminding me too much of my ex fiance who broke up with me last night. It's too much right now." I asked for his number and if we could visit with him sometimes this week, he said yes. Then I asked if there was anything we could do for him. He said we've already done so much. Then as he got up to leave he starts walking up on the stand! I thought he was gonna bear his testimony! I was like...uhhh shoot! hahaha but then he walked over to Bishop and whispered to him a little bit and then got down and left. Weird occurrence, but I think he is really neat. He's looking for a desperate change in his life. I know he was led to the Church by our loving Heavenly Father. He's 19 years old and has been abandoned by everyone in his family. Poor thing. The gospel will give him happiness.

 

We have had a week full of service. We helped with this huge community dinner. It was themed "Meekeropoly" It was really really cute! They had that room decked out in Monopoly themed things. They even changed the cards to places in Meeker. They had a jail and two people were police and people paid to put friends in jail. You had to either roll doubles or pay to get out. All profit went to the Chamber of Commerce which is basically in charge of the community. They had a silent auction. (Me and Sister Partridge were in charge of watching that). Every time someone bid, bought a drink, went or sent someone to jail, they were given a dot sticker. Whoever had the most dots at the end won 100 dollars. Well they made so much money! They were selling packages of things like horseback riding trip, plane rides, fishing trips, spas for like 300-400 dollars! Bishop signed up for something, thinking that someone would bid over and no one didnt. He's adorable wife was so mad when they had to bring home a clock with a huge pheasant on it! haha He got tons of other things too, but it was an expensive purchase! They also had a comedian. Who thought he was much funnier than he was. But he was funny for all the drunk people. We ended up leaving early. But we put alot of work into it. Setting up and built sky scrappers. It was a lot of work, but they announced our names and how much we helped out and everyone started clapping for us. :) Cool huh!

 

We also helped our investigator Tom move into his new house. He recently married Bev who is a convert to the church. The house they moved into is a lot of work. We have been painting walls like crazy and cleaning. The landlord is not helping with the costs at all. The bathtub had huge holes all on it. Ridiculous. They should have taken pictures, but they didn't. There's still alot of work to do, but it looks ten times better than it did. Whoever painted before did terrible. platters of paint all over the windows and they painted the cabinets puke pink colored. It looked awful! I see a bright future for this little house. Tom was so grateful for all the work we put in. We put in about 6-7 hours. We will help more this week as well.

 

Everything is going well with our investigators with the baptism dates. Joanne is excited to start the Stop Smoking Program. She is getting a blessing and starting that tonight. Rachel went to church and loves it. Eddie's dad signed his baptism record so he is allowed to get baptized and April is still going strong with the desire.

 

Another neat thing is, Gary's son just took the mission lessons in Craig. (we asked for his number and if we could send the elders there) He has a baptism date on the 16th this month! We are so excited. I think that will be really wonderful! :)

 

We had to go to the dentist today for Sister Partridge. I thought she had a terrible cavity, but it turns out her filling chipped out. So she did need to replace that. We went to the dentist in Craig, who is a member. He didn't charge her. It was so sweet and almost made me cry. Sister Partridge doesn't have insurance. What a blessing for Sister Partridge. Blessings will pour on that church member.

 

My cut on my ankle is looking alot better. It still hurts, but I can tell it's healing. I change the wrappings everyday. I'll send a picture of that as well.

 

We had an emergency preparedness at the church. It was all about fire extinguishers. It was really neat. We had the fire company come. They built fires in the church parking lot and let us all extinguish them out. I couldn't get it to stop and screamed "how do I get it to stop" (It didn't because it was the end of the fire extinguisher). It reminded me of the time Mom let me pump the gas on our way to Altoona and I forgot to stop squeezing the handle and spilled gas all over me.

 

We visited this lady, Elsy. She will never progress in the church because she's kinda out of it. She's really old. We have been singing to her. It reminded me of how my Grandma Gampe would take us to the nursing home she worked at and we would sing in ever door. Elsy loved it. We sang, "Joseph Smiths First Prayer" and "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". The spirit was strong. (so was the smell of mice) But it was a wonderful experience.

 

Well I think that is all for this week. We are working hard. It was a week full of service, so our number of lessons was lower this week, which is kinda a bummer, but I know that service is the way we show our love for the people here in Meeker. I truly do love them all.

 

Thanks for all your letters of encouragement. I love them all so much! It helps me out!

 

-Love Sister Gampe