Week 27 Transfers~Cyprus!

Here I come Cyprus! I'm transferring on Wednesday and going to Larnaca, Cyprus.  I'm very excited for this opportunity to go serve in a new area! I will be in a trio with Sister Bakewell (from England) and Sister Larcher (from my MTC group).

This week we went on Thursday and Friday to Athens for Zone Conference. On the way to Zone Conference I was given a wheelchair in the airport. That was kinda fun! I loved Zone Conference! It was soo good! I learned so much! During Zone Conference I learned two major things. Receiving Light and "becoming a Saint". I really loved learning about light. In D&C 50:24 It says, "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."  That is our purpose here on earth "to receive light"! I love how when we love others as our Savior loves us, we receive more light. Or when we study the scriptures we receive more light. Or when we obey the commandment, we receive more light. Light= knowledge 

Heavenly Father wants us to receive us much light as we can here on earth so that we can become like Him. 

Becoming a Saint. In Mosiah 3:19 It talks about the natural man being an enemy to God. But what stood out to me wasn't that. For me it was becoming a Saint. I've noticed on my mission we are always asking people to keep commitments and do things to progress. Well, its the same for us. We need to progress. We need to do more. We need to become Saints. But we can only become a Saint through the power of the Atonement. Both the natural man and the Saint need the atonement of Jesus Christ. We cant do this without Him. So, to become a Saint we need to become as a child; Be submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit all things to the Lord, and being obedient. I want to work on "becoming a Saint". I want to do whatever I can in this life to be close to my Savior. I am so grateful for what He has done for me. And I know that He will be by my side helping me along the way. He always has His hands stretched out towards us:)

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Sister Ramsay

Week 26 So...I damaged something...

Hey Everyone!

How is everyone?:)

I hope you are doing well! This week was definitely a challenge for me...

These past two weeks I have had a little pain in my knee from riding my bike. We found out that the bike had some issues...like a hole in the tire and so riding up hills was hard on my knee. So, We decided to bring the bikes into a shop and get them fixed. Last P-day we decided as a district to drive these bike carts. (see picture below) They were sooo fun!!

But I had a lot of pain in my knee...and it started hurting more. That night I was in a lot of pain..so the next few days we decided to take the buses everywhere...so that maybe the knee would stop hurting. Everyday that I used it it got worse and worse. So, I called Sister Heder (President's wife) and told her about the knee and she scheduled me to go see the doctor. On friday in the evening I went into the doctor and she took a look at it and at the time it had turned a little purple at the top of my knee, because of the hematoma. She said that I have a small rupture to my Patella Tendon Hematoma and a strain. She said I was lucky, because if I would have continued biking I would have ruptured it completely and had to have surgery. I am very grateful for the chance I have to be here still. I have bed rest for 2-3days and crutches for 10days. And a brace on my knee. I  wont be able to bike for 2 months. But, all is good:) 

I will be going this coming week to Athens for two days for zone conference. 

Super pumped!

 I know I'm where i'm supposed to be:) I love this work! And I cant wait to get going again! 

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Ramsay

Week 25 Lots of new projects!

This week our main focus was finding new people...So, we decided as a district we would do some more white boarding projects. We are now going to use our talents that we have been given to show people how much the gospel can bless us in so many different ways. One of the companionship bought a guitar and the other a ukulele. We will be playing happy songs to people that pass us by, by the seashore or by universities. People really love it! They smile and sometimes stop and listen and ask questions after. Its pretty neat! The other project we are working on is a we are making a Book of Mormon tower and having a table of Books of Mormon to hand out. And we are doing a free German class, which we are very pumped about!  We are starting a lot of new, but exciting things:)

We had a few little miracles happen...People started calling us to have lessons about the gospel! I know when we show the Lord how much we care for His people and work our hardest, He blesses us! I can definitely see His hand in everything we do! He is by our side:)

This week we had more lessons with Milena! We are working towards baptism with her! She is so wonderful! This week she called me and told me, "Sister Ramsay...I went to visit Marie (her friend) and I told her about the Book of Mormon and she really liked it!" Milena was so excited to tell me about her experience! hahah I absolutely love the people here!! 

I wanted to share a quote from Howard W. Hunter,

"The Lord promised that if we would be humble in times of need and turn to Him for aid, we would be made strong, and be blessed from on high."

I know that God has His hand stretched out towards us! He loves us and will do anything for us! He is here for us when we seek Him. We need to constantly seek Him! That is something that I have learned...He gave us our agency to choose. We need to choose Him. We need to follow Him. We need to do whatever we can to keep our relationship with Him! Its worth whatever it takes! I promise! "There is nothing in this world worth losing Celestial Kingdom."!!!

I love you all!

keep up the good work:)

Love you,

Sister Ramsay

Week 24 Why not play some Basketball?

This week we actually had the opportunity to play some basketball with a less-active!! It was soo fun! He told us to meet him in city and he brought his friend, Lydia. Let me tell you a little about this less-active. He is soooo cool! So, he's name is George and he is half Greek and half American. He was raised in Florida and became a member there. He also is a Ninja. haha. Seriously. He is a Ninja. He has a black belt and all. And sometime later he left and moved to Jerusalem and became a priest for the orthodox church there. And then he moved to Greece...continued to be a priest and a Ninja teacher. Now he is back to being mormon. haha. He speaks english with us and really is so cool. He met us in the city and told us we were taking a bus to where we would be playing basketball. We were with the elders too. Since they are helping George and we've got Lydia. Lydia is such a sweet lady! She is still studying here. She studies music. So, on the bus we (missionaries) realized we were actually going up a mountain and that he wanted to play at the top...

It was so beautiful! We played a fun game and then we left to bring the Sister Training leader, Sister Bakewell, that was with us to the airport. 

This week we also had 2 lessons with Milena. We asked her to be baptized and she said YES! So, right now we are working towards baptism. She is praying about the date we set. She really is an example to me! She wants to do everything she can to be ready for baptism. I love her dedication and faith! 

We also had a lesson this week with Maya! Oh Maya! She is progressing so much! She accepted the invitation to be baptized as well!!! She has a few more lessons than Milena, but they are both really close! Its so cute, because they both have become friends and like to know if they are both going to be baptized on the same day! hahah Maya also called me on saturday night to make sure she had the reading assignment for sunday. She wanted to be prepared for class:) I love Maya! 

We also were able to Skype the Romanian AP's about having lessons for our Romanian family:) 

They said yes, and we will be starting our first lesson tonight! We are very excited to be able to be apart of this! Maria and Adam are very excited to have these lessons!

I know this gospel blesses lives! I've seen it! I am so honored to be able to see it with these people! They are real examples to me! 

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Sister Ramsay

Week 23 Everyone is coming to church!

Hey!

This week has been crazy busy! We went to visit the Koutouri family. They live about 2hours away, but we knew we had to go there and visit them! They are such a sweet, hard working, humble family. The daughter, Tasoula struggles with coming to church. She doesnt want to come, because her mom tells her to. We talked to her about gaining a testimony. We talked about how it is important to find out for ourselves if the church is true. So, after our lesson with her we called her a few more times during the week to keep in touch. And she came to church this sunday! 

Also one of our investigators, Milena, quit her job so she could come to church. She had been wanting to come for a while now, but her job kept her from coming. She came and loved it! She even met our other investigator Maya who came as well:) They both speak russian and got along really well!

We also had a lesson with Maya...she actually called us and asked if we could have another lesson. She really loves learning more and more! It is such a blessing to be here and see these people! They are really amazing people! 

We had a lesson with Αγγελικη as well. She is a less-active who loves having us over! We actually asked her if she coudl help us with our lessons...by having us practice and do role-plays with her on how we can improve in being missionaries.  She loved it! She dived right into a role...she said, "tell me about the gospel...I know nothing" :) It was soo cute! 

We had a lesson with Stella this week as well and the lesson went very well. She loved hearing about the plan of Salvation. I love Greeks!! They always say, "πεσμω!" hahah It means keep going, or tell me more. So, we were able to talk about the whole plan of salvation. She didnt want us to stop:)

After our lesson she asked us where we were going and we told her "White Boarding". We explained what it is and she said next time I want to come and be a missionary too! hahah She is so sweet!

While we did white boarding our theme was the free english and greek classes we do. So, we passed out cards with the info on that and Sister Leuzinger and I decided to start doing german classes as well and see of anyone is interested. And to my surprise we had a lot of people that were interested in the german classes. So, we will be starting that too:)

This week has been great!! I see miracles everyday and I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve!! I am really learning so much!

Love you all,

Sister Ramsay