Sister Roosendaal serving in the Virginia Richmond Mission : April 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

hey ya'll!!!
well i'm here in virginia!! pretty crazy! i love it ... it is so gorgeous and soo green!! It's awesome. i'm serving in Charlottesville, VA in a singles ward! Haha it is awesome. We have an activity almost every night with the singles ward and its fun hanging with people my own age. its very different than i expected but i love it it's awesome. i will also be doing things at the university in charlottesville which is a way sweet campus.i have two companions again.... Sister Tanner from Idaho and Sister Allan from St George. They are awesome and i am definitely in good hands with them. Sister Tanner also has a boyfriend on a mission and guess what his name is.... yep... JARED. haha things get pretty confusing during our conversations but its way funny. There are six of us in our tiny apartment, us three and three hermanas. we all get along great and its way fun. so my first night in the mission was spent at the mission home. the mission pres and his wife are super nice and i look forward to getting to know them better even though they leave soon. it was very hard saying goodbye to my last comp and district ha but i will definitely see them again. i think the hardest was after i got my new comps and i started to follow my old comp. i just wasnt used to being with someone new! on friday we painted a members house most of the day. i didn't even have to get in a dress the first day in the field. holla thats whats up. saturday we went to downtown charlottesville which is the cutest place on the earth and we had a stand set up with free lemonade and bom, pamphlets, etc and we just talk to people as they walk by and it was way fun. it really hit me how there really are people out there looking for something more! There are people who are prepared everywhere and who need to hear the gospel. in the mtc, teaching fake investigators... it was really hard to get into it and feel like it was for real but it's so crazy how real it actually is and its just so important to talk to everyone cuz each person is a child of our heavenly father and this is their salvation that is at stake. it's scary... but each person is of worth and whether or not they choose to accept this gospel i will be doing all i can to open my mouth and to just love everyone. saturday night i taught my first lesson to anthony. haha he is such an awesome kid. he is 23 and... black. i love him he is so cool and we have a lot of work to do with him. right now he is so focused on how the bom and bible relate .... he is having a hard time understanding that he doesn't have to know every little thing. he doesn't understand that through prayer he can come to know for himself and then all those little facts he is trying to gather wont matter. but he will get there for sure. he is so awesome. yesterday at church wasn't as overwhelming as i thought it would be. the singles ward is pretty small and will get smaller when summer comes around haha so it's pretty different but i'm excited to get to know everyone and i'm excited to get to work on the less actives and inactives.we have lots of work to do and lots of people to find but i know we will find those the lord has prepared for us. i know i am here in charlottesville for a reason and i can't wait to find out why. im very excited to be serving here. they call charlottesville the "mountains" ha but no it's not really mountains especially coming from utah.... they are just tiny green hills. i love it. its so pretty. so i just have to let everyone know that the first thing me and my comps did when we got to my area on thursday was go to chic-fil-a hahaha thats for you melanie. they have them here thank the heavens. i think i will be able to survive now! last night we had a contada which was basically a choir and someone narratting about christ and his life. it was so amazing and the spirit was so strong. i spent a lot of the time reflecting on what i learned in the MTC which was a ton.... but mainly i learned the importance of loving everyone! and loving everyone as christ would. we are all sons and daughters of our heavenly father. he has a plan for each of us and wants us all to return home to him. he loves us so much and just looks forward to hearing from us everyday. i'm so grateful for the opportunity i have to show that christlike love to the people of virginia and give them the opportunity to feel of our heavenly father's love so they may return to his presence. i also learned how important it is to have a positive attitude and to look for the good in EVERYTHING. there is something good in each day as long as we will embrace it and cherish it. No matter how hard of day... there is still something to learn and grow from it. when i got here the mission pres said to my comp sis hurley "do you ever have a down day?!" haha and her response was the best she said "no not really!" that is so awesome. i would love to be able to answer that question in that way and i'm going to do my very best from now on to be able to live my life in such a way and i challenge you all to do the same! This gospel is so amazing and so true. i couldnt be happier to be representing jesus christ and teaching this gospel 24/7. i love being a missionary! Thanks for all the love and support.! I miss you all so much! This is where i'm supposed to be! No doubt! I LOVE YOU ALL. XOXO

Sister Roosendaal

--
Michele Roosendaal
"Have a GREAT Day"

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Letter #1 April 18, 2013 (sounds like she is doing great!!)

Hello everyone!!

What an amazing week it has been! And I can't believe it has only been a week, it feels like I have been here forever, which is a good thing. I'm really loving it here! I have learned so so much it's super overwhelming with all of the things I have learned haha but it's awesome!! So I have two companions... Sister Hurley from California and Sister Brunty from Ogden. They are both so awesome and we all get along great. Having two companions is very difficult but we have lots of fun! There are two other sets of elders in our district and we are all going to Richmond, Virginia. There were three other sets of elders but unfortunately one Elder went home which hit me really hard but I know he did the right thing and that he will be back out here in no time! Out district is super close! We all get along so good! I've learned so much from each of them and it has been so fun watching each other grow in the gospel! The elders take very good care of us... when they aren't around we feel very lost without them. Haha it's awesome and so fun getting to know them. I can't even imagine having to say goodbye to my companions and district in less than a week. It will be hard but it will be good. So anyway, one cool experience I had this week was with the Book of Mormon. In class we all split up into partners and read the first chapter of the book of mormon together and as we were reading we were supposed to follow the spirit and share what we thought that other person needed to hear or learn from a certain verse. My dang heck... it was the coolest thing ever. I was working with one of the elders and we had like a 5 min discussion on just one verse. The spirit was so strong, we were both in tears because of what we learned from the spirit. I took something completely different from the verse than he did. It's just so amazing to see how the spirit works and it's just incredible how strong it is here! I feel like I could touch it. The MTC is such an amazing place to be, it's like no other place in the world. I just want to invite you all to really dissect the book of mormon.... no matter where you are reading cuz there is so much that can be taken from it and through the spirit you can learn something that you couldn't have even imagined from that verse or chapter. It was such a cool experience! On Tuesday night, Elder RIchard G. Scott came and spoke to us for a devotional. HOLLA. I was sooo excited and it was soo sweet to have an apostle of the Lord talk to us!! The spirit that he brought into the room was so amazing. He talked about prayer and I know that it was something every missionary in the room needed to hear! I learned so much. He talked about the importance of pouring our heart out to the Lord and just talking to Him! He knows EVERYTHING and just wants to hear from us. He said to pray even when you don't want to! And as you do this you will feel the desire to want to always pray! It's important that we have the desire to do His will and to be willing to act on whatever answer he gives us in our prayers! He knows what is best for us and we need to act in faith on the answers we receive from him! One other thing is that when we don't get answers, it is important to thank Heavenly Father for not answering us right away.We need to trust in his timing and trust in the plan that he has for us. It was so amazing having Elder Scott speak to us and I wish I could just type up all the notes that I wrote on his talk cuz I really learned so much and it really changed the way I pray. So on sunday for relief society mary edmunds came and spoke to us! Ha she is hilarious! She really gave a powerful talk and helped put many things into perspective for me. She has written a couple books that i would love to read if i could. So Grandma, mom, mel, suzanne, jil, etc. take care of that for me and let me know how they are! Haha only if you want. She was amazing though and I learned a lot from her! So my teachers are Bro Jensesn and Bro Schuaneveldt. They are very good teachers. Brother Spencer Jensen is actually from farmington and i went to jr high with him. During class our teachers act as investigators and we have been learning how to teach and best meet the needs of the individual. Well the person bro jensen is acting like is one of his friends that i acutally know. haha so even though he is just my teacher and not coulson it is pretty cool knowing who he is trying to act like. Bro schunaveldt is so aweseome. He has tremors and shakes really bad but holy cow can he bring the spirit into the room so strongly! I learn so much from him and the importance of teaching with the spirit. Our investigator we have been teaching is Michelle (ha just for you mom) but she is so awesome. She is super quiet and lonely but once she gets out of that shell she is so funny! We laugh with her all the time and i think she is really starting to feel comfortable around us. She has a hard time understanding the bom and never really had much religion in her life. She struggles believing the joseph smith story and that heavenly father really will answer our prayers and that he cares and loves her. so last night as we were talking to her she expressed her concern that she doesnt feel like she will get an answer to her prayers. and i had a scripture come into my head but i couldnt remember the reference. So i opened the topical guide or whatever and my eyes went straight to the scripture that i wanted and needed to share. It was totally the spirit... not me at all and after we shared that scripture with her you could tell that it really touched her heart. She kept looking down at it so see if it really said what it did! She was really caught off guard i think but in a good way! Haha it was so sweet. The spirit is so important to have when you teach! It is hard to recognize and act on but i know i will get it! There are so many things i need to work on and i'm getting so nervous to leave for virginia. But i know i'm supposed to be here! It's been already the best experience of my life and it has only been a week! I can't wait to bring the truth of the gospel to the people of virginia. I just can't wait to love the heck out of them and to bring them unto christ. I know my mission will bless me eternally, and what an amazing blessing that is!! I'm working hard and doing the very best i can!! Thanks sooo much for all the letters, emails, and support. I'm so blessed with amazing family and friends. I love you all so much and of course miss ya like crazy but this is where i'm supposed to be no doubt. i leave for virginia next wed on april 24. I leave the mtc at 4 am and my flight leaves at 7 am. i have a two hour layover in georgia so i'm not sure when i will be able to call. I'll most likely call from georgia but it could also be at like 5 or 6 am. i'm not sure i wish i knew i'm sorry! But I can't wait to talk to ya!! I'm loving it here everything is so amazing. I LOVE YOU ALL.

XOXO

Sister Roosendaal

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

I have been called to serve in the Virginia Richmond Mission! I leave April 10, 2013 and I'm very excited to serve a faithful 18 month mission and bring the truth of the restored gospel to the people of Virginia. I am so excited and grateful for this opportunity; it is something I have wanted to do my whole life and I can't believe it is finally here! This gospel has blessed me so much and made me so happy my entire life that I want others to be able to experience it and the joy and blessings that come from it. This church is TRUE and I know that there are people in Virginia who the Lord has prepared to hear and accept this gospel. I'm so thankful for all my family and friends and all of your support throughout this whole experience! You guys are incredible, I will miss you all so much but I know this is what I need to be doing! This blog will allow you to keep up with my mission and all of my incredible experiences! My weekly letters and current address will be posted and I hope to hear from you all while I'm gone! Til we meet again! xoxo

<3 Sister Macy Roosendaal