HOSTING

Well, I honestly feel really bad when I send emails, because they are completely boring, and today is no different!

Well after I finished emailing you all last week my companions and I went back to our residence to take a nap. We slept for a legit 2 HOURS. I woke up and all I could say was, "RAGRETZ" Literally. I was destroyed for the rest of the day and could not fall asleep for the life of me that night. 

(guys, this is literally all the news I have. Brace yourself.)

This week we were able to host all the new incoming missionaries and it was so fun! 

I was able to host four girls, two of which were converts to the church and the other two were both going to mongolia! HOW COOL! I absolutely loved hosting all the new kids and seeing their own little dork dots. It is hard it reminds me of walking away, but I was way too excited to look back. SORRY MOM AND DAD. People were BAWLING and it was like a crying party. Sad, but they'll get over it real quick, and if they don't the best way to fall asleep is crying yourself to sleep. SO, thats a positive! 

I was talking to my branch president the other day, and he said something that really impacted my life. He said, "Wake up every morning look at yourself in the mirror, and tell yourself that you are the MIRACLE." how cool is that. I have to opportunity to tell someone how great this gospel is. I can bring miracles into their lives by simply opening my mouth and letting the spirit teach. Just think about how awesome that is! 

Oh fun fact. I met a girl from samoa when all the foreign missionaries came in, (foreign missionaries come on tuesday instead of wednesday) and I was talking to this sister and I asked what her name is, and she said "SISTER ETE" and I was like no way I have a friend serving in samoa named elder ETE(IKAIKA) and she was like where is he from and I said utah and She said "THAT MY COUSIN!" What the small world! And so we talked about them for a little. If anyone sees Lani or Sama tell them that I met their niece from samoa!

Well I guess that is all I have for now. sorry my emails suck. 

I want you all to know that I love this gospel. I am grateful to be able to see the lords hand in my life! I love being a missionary. There is nothing I would rather do. I know that jesus Christ lives, he is our savior and our redeemer. Keep up the great work! 

Can't wait to hear about all your crazy lives next week!

Love 

Sestra Ratcliffe

PS I am not taking a nap this week. NO NO NO.

March 19, 2015

Well this week has not been too wild, but is the MTC ever really that WILD? Ha!

Just an update on my companion with the foot problem. she does not really have three bones in her foot, one of her sesmoid bones is completely broken in half. She went to a pediatrist yesterday and he said that they are making her an orthotic and if that doesn't heal it then they will have to do surgery to remove it. So.. that's crazy, but she is strong and she is baring the pain. 

Our district had a birthday party for Elder Oviatt this week. It was awesome! 

Sister Baileys mom sent us some fun things for the party like eye patches and earring( ahoj AKA Pirate. Get it? ) any way that day was full of fun experiences. Everyone was carrying a package back to our classroom. one of the elder's moms sent cake, another sent donuts, it was insane! We only had about 15 minutes to really celebrate, but it was a blast! 

This week for our devotional we had a member of the seventy come and talk to us. He was so wonderful. He gave us 10 things every missionary should know, and I will share them with you:

1. Love 

He said the day you care more about the people you are serving than yourself is the day you will be the HAPPIEST. 

2. Truth of the Book of Mormon

never let a day go by that you don't read this book. It is a true gift. another testament of our savior Jesus Christ. Read it. Ponder it. and Pray about it. 

LOVE!

3. Joseph Smith. 

As missionaries we testify of him all the time, but do you know for yourself that it really happened? What an amazing thought.

4. Obedience

One of the best ways for us as missionaries to be successful is to follow the guidelines in the white handbook.

5. Faith in Jesus Christ

I love what he said here, He said "Diligence stomps intelligence every single time."

I love that. the other day my investigator asked me a question and I didn't know the answer, and that is a perfectly OKAY response, because the next personal study I had I pondered that question and thought specifically about my investagator. 

6.Holy Ghost. 

When moses divided the red sea he relied on his heavenly father and the Holy Ghost to deliver them. Elder Clarke said " you will face many red sea in your life, will you divide them or will you let them divide you. 

7. Family

He told us not to write dumb emails. keeping you involved is so important. 

I want to thank you all for the support and love I recieve from each and everyone of you and hope that I continue to hear from you for the rest of my mission! 

8. believe in who you REALLY are

When we head to the spirit and act on those promptings we have the ability to heal any wounded soul. I know it!

9. Worth of souls. 

The most important thing to know, is that the people you come in contact with, is someones dad, mom, sister, brother, friend, and if you pretend like that person is someone you know it will make all the difference in how your results may be. 

10. Enjoy the journey. 

Decide today, HAPPY ALWAYS, CONTENT NEVER!

I hope this all makes sense and most of it can be applied in daily life, not just missionary work. 

I know that this gospel is true. I am so grateful for it, and cannot wait to get to share it with the people of slovakia. I pray for them everyday and have used this time to prepare to meet them! One month down my friends! 

Last but not least, 

a bit of advice I have, that I have noticed here at the MTC. 

This is not oakcrest or EFY. 

1. Some missionaries think it is okay to have COW's (crushes of the Week) or Elder Baes. No. I mean, I am not saying you can't look, but the MTC is not LDS Singles. LOL

2. If it is yellow DO NOT let it mellow. I hate walking into the bathroom and the person didn't flush. EW (jimmy fallon voice)

3. Embrace the crazy. by the third week your maturity level goes from like a 7 to a 2. embrace it. we are all weird. 

That is all I have for you all today. I can't wait to hear from you next week and see how you all have been doing!

Keep it up! 

As Brett Rat would say " Do you BOO-BOO "

Oh I love him. 

Sestra Ratcliffe

We are COOKing

So is that a weird email title or what?

No need to worry, I have my reasons.

So this week was awesome! 

Elder Quentin L Cook of the 12 apostles came and spoke to us on Sunday! It was SOOO cool. We broadcasted the entire thing to MTC's around the world! it was spectacular! One of my favorite things he said was that we should never underestimate the significance of an invitation. We may or may not see the blessings from that invitation, but one day we will, it is one step closer to them coming unto Christ and I love that!

in one of my "investigator" lessons this week I invited my investigator to be baptized and they said...

YES!!! It was such a fulfilling proud moment!

Also in class I had to bear my testimony about the Kniha Mormonova 3 times! By the third time I figured out that my teacher didn't want me to read out of the language book what it says about the book of mormon, he wanted me to bear my own personal testimony of the truthfulness, and after I had born my testimony I looked up and both of my teachers were crying, and I was like, "how did I just say that?"

GIFT OF TONGUES my friends. 

We had the opportunity to go to the outside world this week, because my companion needed to get an x ray on her foot. Long story short she has an extra bone in there thats not supposed to be there and we get to go to the outside world again this week! It's quite an experience leaving this place and being a legit missionary by people who are not other missionaries.. 

So on sunday we were listening to music and the spoken word and all of a sudden a

BAT

just starts flying around like it owned the place!

It was so cute, but took away from the spirit because it was swooping down by our heads and all the girls were freaking out. 

So in our classroom there is a dead bird that is outside on the window sill and we always say hi to it(Thats how you know you are going crazy at the MTC) and we named him carl, but there is a guy in one of the building that we do service in named carl, so my companionship was talking and I was like maybe we will clean with carl tomorrow and Sestra Bailey goes, "Oh yeah, We love him we say Hi to him every morning, He's pretty much our best friend" and i turned to her and said, "are you talking about the bird or the human, cause I think we are on a different page here." Turns out she was talking about the bird and was slightly embarassed about the situation. 

Well, I suppose that is all I have for this week. 

tell Grandma Stalder I am thinking of her today and I love her! 

Talk to you soon. 

Sestra Ratcliffe

So many pictures,

Sister Kindt and I( She is feeling and looking a lot better and Kicking butt!

Sister Higging and I in the Red shirt, She is my companion when we are training the new elders and sister, because we are sister training leaders

  we have a very artistic elder in our district and he drew caricature of our whole mission pretty sweet.

 And going out to the outside world they have a lot of free samples. We were like kids in a candy store and we took at least one of every thing. The struggle. you know your a missionary when immature things are the most hilarious things ever!

Let's take a Slovak through my week

Ahoj Everyone!

Oh my emailing is so stressful. Okay I'm just going to hop right into it!

So on Sunday my district and I like to watch videos on lds.org and we have some very musically inclined people in my district. my companion looked up homeward bound by the Mormon Tabernacle choir, and I was like oh my uncle is in the MO TAB, no more than 3 seconds later Uncle Phill pops up on the screen and I was like... AHHHHH THATS HIM!!!!! it was so fun to see such a familiar face on the screen! :)

To answer the world wide question, No my investigators are not real. They are my teachers, and yes all of my lessons are in Slovak. Takes a lot of practice and preparation, but I have been loving every second of it! 

So just to explain a few questions i got this week.

Who are your companions and who is in your room

great question. since I'm a solo sister I can technically hop from companionships at my leisure, but my companions are Sestra Bailey and Sestra Schaerrer who are serving in the Czeck Republic. 

my room has six bunks and all of them are full. 

How do you ask.

We room with the polish sisters who just came in last week.

I know my mom was concerned about me being HANGRY( hungry and angry ) of fast sunday, so just to assure you, I did very well. It also helps that we are old folks here and eat at like 4 in the evening.. so theres that! HA!

Are my weekends different than the week days. 

not really. on saturdays we have classes earlier in the day and study at night, where on regular days study is in the morning and class is later. so thats different. 

Sundays are my favorite! 

this sunday we watched the restoration video and I have never cried so much just watching it! It was just wonderful! 

today we went to the temple and did sealings and this little old guy walked into the room and he reminded me of my grandpa stalder and I just started sobbing thinking about him!

I was thinking how proud he would be of my to be out serving a mission and how funny it would be to see him try to email me! ha, it was just a wonderful morning! 

Shouts out to William Cole Ratcliffe, Kaitlyn and McKinley Bird for becoming old folks. geez where does the time go?

So the language is coming pretty well for those of you who are wondering. 

The girls in my room informed me that I was sleep YELLING in Slovak, so I'm pretty PROUD of myself!

If I missed any questions or you have more to ask feel free to email me or dear elder me through out the week! It is super fun to hear from you all! 

Have a wonderful week! and Keep the faith. 

Sestra Madison Jane Ratcliffe

So the first and fifth picture is the closest thing I have to my kitty cat. ha a sticker! But I love it! the one of the elders jumping and holding eachother are elders in my district. They are always goofing off, but they make us laugh every single day. My Companion chopped her hair today and you will have to wait til next week for the final result. One of the polish girls broke her finger her second day at the MTC. The struggle is real. My vision picture is for my language goals, and I had a little time to doodle. and the picture with all the foreign words is just a few of the words I am memorizing this week. Fun STUFF!