July 15th letter and pics from Sister Randall

Warning! Missionary Weight Gain is REAL!‏

Well this transfer week was totally different than the last one. 6 weeks ago i was beyond excited to be transferred. This week I didn't want the transfer to end. Sister Beus was amazing. We really got along well and could talk about anything. 

So there was a typo on the transfer list and I'm not covering the university ward :( But I still get to be in the 2nd ward so that is great. My new companion Sister Prince is...interesting. I'm having a little bit of a hard time getting used to her personality but we will work through it. Sister Prince was in the Colorado Springs mission and they had a lot of different rules so we are trying to straighten those out right now. She is from Missouri, a super small town, she was home schooled, and has never lived away from home. She has been on her mission now for 3 months. Slowly but surely.

Not much has happened this week because of transfers. I've spent the week getting ready for Sister Beus to leave and getting Sister Prince acquainted with Lawrence. I get to speak in church this Sunday so that will be fun... I think i'm going to speak on the miracles of missionary work. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Sorry my letter is so short my brain is in a million different places today and I can't seem to focus. Hopefully I can write something more meaningful next week.

I love you guys and please take care!

-Sister Randall

July 8th letter from Sister Randall

Hello from the Heartland!

Wow what to say...Transfer weeks are always stressful. Sister Beus is leaving Lawrence on Wednesday. I'm super bummed but excited for her to serve in another area. I will be serving with Sister Prince. (no idea who she is yet :) but I'm excited to meet her!) So crazy thing...I'll be serving in Lawrence 2nd ward...and the University Ward! I'm crazy nervous (mainly because I've been to a singles ward a total of 1 time!) but it will be an amazing experience. We will get to work with a lot more people and will get way more referrals (the best way to do missionary work i might add).

The chigger bites have subsided. Now it's time for the mosquito bites! But being a girl from Utah I'm used to those. :) And they don't itch nearly as bad as chiggers. Funny thing, there are so many things that i used to complain about in Utah (like the snow, the bugs, the heat, etc.) that I would give anything to have back now. I guess you don't know what you've got till it's gone right? I really do love it here in Lawrence though. It's been super fun to be in a university town with lots of people my age to talk to, and now I'll be working with them even more! So crazy!! 

We got to meet with Kay, an investigator, and teach her the first lesson again. She's been taught by missionaries for the last 5 months or so but no one has made it clear that we teach to baptize not just to inform. We went over that and she said she would pray about the things that we had taught her. Super exciting! We are finally getting somewhere with her! Brittany a recent convert got her patriarchal blessing on Saturday. She is amazing. She was just baptized in May and is already wanting to serve a mission and everything. She has even introduced us to her mom and a friend to the elders that is on date for baptism! Holy cow do i look up to her!

Not much else to report here! I'm doing really good. A little nervous about the changes about to happen but like they say, "The only thing consistent about missionary work is change!" I guess i should just learn to embrace it! Well I love you all and can't wait to hear how things are going back home!

With lots and lots of love,

Sister Randall

June 30th letter & pics from Sister Randall

Well today marks the first day of my mission in the Kansas Wichita mission! It's so crazy how this day seemed so far away when I first started my mission and now it is here. I attached a mission map for those that are curious. It's kind of cool i could serve in my home state (Colorado) or Oklahoma as well as Kansas. 

This week was fairly uneventful. I finally got cleared to drive! So we got the car for a whole 2 days before the Elders needed it back for P-day stuff. We will be back in the car tonight though :) (now that the hot week is over).

On Tuesday we met a ton of really great people though! It was kind of cool. We went to an appointment that didn't go very well at all. Then we were deciding what to do. Every time we made any kind of plan it just didn't feel right. We sat there for almost an hour contemplating what to do. Super frustrating! I think we made 3 different plans and every time they didn't work. We finally came up with a plan that was decent but still not amazing. In order for this plan to work however we had to make it to the bus stop in about 5 min. A walk that normally takes about 10. We knew we could do it if we hurried. As we were walking we ran into a man named Pat. He was great to talk to and even knew one of our members. After talking with him we knew there was no way we would make it to the bus stop in time. We decided to tract a few apartments and then head to another area. Those apartments had more people home than we had hit all day. It was a really productive place to tract. We even found a new investigator that is a baptist but a ton of her extended family is Mormon and she was interested about what they believe.

The only other really interesting thing that has happened to me is CHIGGERS!! Oh my are they painful! They are microscopic bugs that bite and dig into your skin. They stay there until you suffocate them. Their bites are like mosquito bites that itch WAY more! Not fun at all! Right now I've got 5 bites on my feet and 3 on my leg. Last night I painted them with nail polish to suffocate them. Hopefully my feet will be itch free in a couple of days. Note to self...stay out of the grass. On the bright side of things at least it wasn't a tick!

Well not much else to report on the Kansas front. I'm looking forward to meeting President Bell (on July 18th) and I'm excited to see the work change and progress. Keep up the member missionary work back home and send me your miracle stories they are so inspiring!

With lots and lots of love,

Sister Randall

Topeka Zone with President and Sister Keyes on our temple trip

Kansas City Temple

Lawrence Sisters (me, Sister Beus, Sister Murray, Sister Christenot)

The cutest ward member yet!