Week 37 Happy are we! Happy are we!

This week we had been asked by President Heder to work on our family history. We were given a booklet and went on family search to look up things to put into the book and ask our families to help us accomplish this! I am very grateful for my family and the opportunity I have to be able to look back and see pictures and stories about them! I am so grateful I got to really learn about my family and where they came from. I really appreciate my family so much more now after being able to read and see what they have gone through to be where my family is now! Families are an amazing gift from God!

This week we had Specialized Training by President and the AP's. It was really good! Elder Kearon from the Area Presidency is coming in June to visit the mission and talk to us missionaries. So that will be pretty neat! We are all really excited about that!

We also got a call from Diletta on saturday telling us how much she loves the Book of Mormon! She told us that she also gave her husband the Turkish Book of Mormon and he loves the Book as well! Now they are both racing through it! Wanting to finish really bad! Diletta told us how "this book really answers my questions!" She was very happy to see how the Book of Mormon was blessing her life. And its a miracle that her husband is reading because he didnt want her to be a "Mormon". He told her it would ruin their relationship. But once he started reading he couldnt stop. And their relationship has grown more together as they both have been reading it together:)

I can testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! It will bless our lives and give us direction! It will answer questions and give us comfort! I know God loves everyone no matter the circumstances! We are all children of God!

Diletta came to church!!:) And the members welcomed her in very friendly! She had told us she had been looking for a religion that not only has all the truth but people in church who care for each other and love each other. As she was greeted and welcomed she had a huge smile on her face! Her English was actually really good! She asked me to help her say "nice to meet you!" It was very cute! One of the members came in and shook her hand and said, "It is so good to see you! You need to do everything you can to be here! And keep on coming! We love you!" And at that moment Diletta started crying and the member held her and hugged tight! It was one of the most sweetest and tender moments I had ever seen!

In the evening we had been worried about a less active member, who we hadnt seen or heard from him in awhile. And as we left our apartment, we saw him! He opened up and talked to us about some of his struggles and it was a real nice moment for us to be able to see the Hand of the Lord. I also invited him to come to church next week since it is going to be District Conference. I told him I will bring a chocolate cake and you bring rice. And his face lit up and he smiled. He used to always bring rice to potluck after church. So, when I asked him he said "yeah...I really do like rice. I will come." hahah

I am so grateful to be here! I love you all!

Have a great week!

Sister Ramsay

P.s we see men cooking lamb and pig a lot outside.....hah

Week 36 Italian Week!

This week a lot happened! So, last P-day we went to the beach to get something to drink and sit by the sand and watch the waves. As we were sitting there two men passed us by, (Savas and Petros) and looked at us and said we looked liked angels. And that there was something different about us. We told him about our message and how we are missionaries. He suddenly smiled and told us about how he is searching for truth. And he felt something when he saw us. So, we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him where he could find our church. So, that was pretty fun!

This week we also saw a lady with her baby on a walk while we were on our way home and we felt the impression to go by that lady's house...since we saw her go home. So, we turned around and went for it. At first we were just full of "Yeah we Got This!!! Lets go!!" As soon as she opened the door she smiled and I told her who we were and if we could share a message and she let us in!! It was sooo cool!!! We went in and she told us that she has two kids and her name is Monica. She said that we could come back to share a lesson with her family. She is open to religion and would love to see us again!

We were really pumped about that!!  We really can see how the Lord really does guide us by the Spirit, but we need to be willing to follow the prompting! :)

We also have now a new investigator!!! Her name is Dileta. She is from Italy! We had a lesson  with her this week and the lesson was in Italian. Good thing I am blessed with an Italian Companion:)

 She taught me some Italian this week. And so, hopefully by next week I will be able to say a prayer in Italian. I am working hard on learning how to pray and say some words. I have got my name and where I am from down! haha! :) (Salve! Sono Sorella Ramsay. Vengo dala Svizzera)

I love you all!!

Hopefully you are all enjoying the Summer!

Week 35 Zone Conference!

Hey!

This week we had Zone Conference!  So, we took a 2hour bus ride to Limassol and met all the missionaries there!

It was really amazing! President talked to us about a meeting he had in Germany with other mission presidents and how they could help us missionaries. He went to the meeting with questions wondering how he could help us missionaries. It was inspiring. The Area President, Elder Kearon said, " Challenge any excuse, distraction or rationalization; reject those voices that say it's too hard, or not your time. DON'T SETTLE FOR WHAT WAS YESTERDAY'S BEST."

President started to talk to us about how we need to go back to the basics and remember why we are here.We started off by telling us a story about s football coach in 1967, who said, "Gentlemen this is a football." And went through all the basics of how to play football to his players so that they could remember their purpose. And he compared that to us. We need to remember our purpose. And one quote from President that I love is, "You are formed of eternal fabric; you only get stronger when stretched."

This week we also did more cookie service and it went so well! We went to go visit Joan, the old lady from England. We brought her cookies and she was so touched by our service she asked us to come back in three weeks to have a lesson on the plan of salvation with her. We were so happy by her willingness to want to meet with us! It was amazing! We also met with a family from Palestine. They were super sweet! They have a baby girl and love seeing us come over. We will visit them again next week because the wife really wanted to cook us Arabian food. Hahah!

This mission has so many miracles and blessings! I can see God's hand in the tiniest of things! This is truly His work! I know that as we do everything we can in this life to prepare to meet our Father in Heaven again, we will have an abundant amount of blessings and our joy will be full!

I love you all!!

Have a great week!

Sister Ramsay

Week 34 Keep Calm and Bake Away!

Hello Everyone!

This week we baked a TON! But I honestly loved it! We decided to bake some cookies for some of our potential investigators and members in the ward. I also made a cake for someone at church. And one night we had just came back from a busy day and we were so tired. My companion went to lay down. (this was during our dinner hour) and I decided I was going to bake her some cupcakes. It was so fun because as soon as she saw them she was like, "Sister Ramsay, I really needed some chocolate.. Thank you!" haha It was fun!

We also visited some less active members. We visited Analiesel, who is doing well. She will be going to the Philippines soon. We also saw Amanda. She is almost done with all her paper work so she can get married. We also saw Jane. Jane was really happy to see us and start the Area Plan for Europe together. Right now we are working on some goals with her to help her bring a friend to church:)

This week we also taught the English class. That was actually really fun! I really enjoyed teaching Panayiotis and Gorgia. They laughed a lot and enjoyed playing some games to learn words. That was cool!

We also went to the hospital this week to go visit one of our primary kids, Ayia, who got really sick. She is 11. She is so cute! We went with the Senior couple and Elders to go visit and give her a blessing. The spirit in the room was so strong. I am so glad we had the opportunity to be apart of that!

We also had a big rain storm! We had a lot of thunder and just water that down poured hard!! It flooded the roads and made it really hard for cars and for us to walk outside. It came to a point where we couldnt see our feet anymore. It was so hard to walk in our sandals. We had to take them off for a little bit just because we kept slipping and cars drove by getting us soaked. We went home soaked but smiling! It was soo funny! People kept looking at us thinking ,"why are they smiling in the rain"...why? Because we are grateful for the wonderful rain even if we are soaking wet and tired.  And just a few days ago we passed by a river that had dried out.... I am sure now its got some water in it:)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! Η ΜΕΡΑ ΤΗΣ ΜΗΤΕΡΑΣ!!! :)

I love you all! I hope you all had the opportunity to talk to your mother's and wish them a Happy Mother's Day and if you haven't please call them!! They miss you! :)

Love,

Sister Ramsay

Week 33 Blessings!!

"And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us." (1Nephi 17:2)

This week we have seen so many blessings!! I am so grateful for His constant care and love for us!

So, this week on Tuesday we went to go visit Analiesel, who is a less-active member. She has a baby boy named, Cyprus, because he was born here. And when we came to visit her she was so happy! Her husband didn't want the missionaries to visit...and so for 2years she hasn't seen anyone from the church. And just recently we had called her and asked if it would be ok and her husband said that now it would be ok. We dont know what changed but we came by and as soon as she saw us she couldn't stop smiling!! We share a spiritual thought and we felt impressed to tell her that her Father in Heaven is mindful of her and loves her very much! She burst into tears and opened up to us about her life. We were very grateful for the opportunity we had to reach out to a wonderful daughter of God! We will be visiting her again next week!

We also had a lesson with Christina who is also a less-active. She loved seeing us. She felt the spirit and told us she would love having us over more!

On Wednesday we had a lesson with Amanda. She is now working on being closer to her Savior. We were able to see how much she desires to be close to Him!

On Thursday Sister Bakewell went home.

And we went to go to our service project that we usually have in the morning bt it was closed because this week the Cypriots are celebrating Easter. So, as we were walking back home an old lady was standing outside her house and said, ¨Τοσο αμορφες κοπελες!¨ (Very beautiful ladies) so we stopped and talked to her and she invited us in and gave us cookies and showed us pictures of her family and she started telling us how God has blessed her family. It has only been through God that her family has been so happy! We started talking about the gospel and she asked if she could have a Book of Mormon. It was a really cool experience!

That evening we also went to go visit one of our potential investigators that we have. She invited us to go bowling with her. So, we went bowling with her and her kids and ended up having a conversation about religion. She talked about the Book of Mormon. We had given her a month ago. She likes it and told us she would get baptized but she doesnt know if the Book is true. So, we told her the only way she would know is if she asked God. We bore our testimony of the truthfulness of the Book and how it has blessed our lives.

On Friday we went door knocking! As we were door knocking we met many people who did not want to talk to us but we also met some people who were very happy to see us and let us in. A man let us in and his wife gave us orange juice. And I love when people let us in and say, " Ok whats your message? tell us! hahah Its fun! We also met an old lady named, Joan, from England, who has been living her for 28years. When we were talking to her about the gospel...she started crying and told us how her son had recently died. We realized in that instant that she needed to hear the plan of salvation and that Heavenly Father loves her and will comfort her. We were able to bear testimony of how the gospel blessed families and that families are forever. She took a Book of Mormon. And right before we left she said, "God sent you to comfort me." I know God is aware of each of us and our situations. He loves everyone. Everyone. No matter the circumstances!

We also were able to have a lesson with a family who was happy to see us come and knock on their door. We talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ with them. And after our lesson they invited us to come back sometime:)

On Saturday we were leaving to go to our missionary meeting and a man stopped and asked us if we were speaking Swedish. hahah That was funny!

We had a lesson with Therazita and Jane. Jane was very grateful for our visit. She told us how she want too sure about us coming over but after the lesson she asked for us to come visit again! So, we are very grateful for that opportunity to strengthen her!

This week we also got a call from President telling us that we are staying her this transfer! Sister Larcher and I are companions still:)

We had the amazing opportunity that President said we could go to the Orthodox church to see the candle lighting ceremony at midnight. So, we went! It was neat!

"Count your many blessings; name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done" I love this hymn! The Lord has truly blessed us this week! I am grateful that I can be here and serve right by my Savior's side!
 I love you all! I hope you all have a great week!!!

Love ya,

Sister Ramsay

Week 32 Για Σας :)

How is everyone??

This week we went to go visit a family we had heard about from other sisters. We knew they were from Egypt and that they might be interested in our message. So, we went and when we got there they welcomed us in warmly and they were very happy to see us. To our surprise there was 8 kids and a mother. They had children from the ages of 3-23. It was so fun. They had two little boys who kept smiling and coming up to us and wanting our attention. We were a little worried they wouldnt understand us but they were able to understand english. So, we were able to have a good conversation with them and hope to maybe see them sometime again:)

This week we also went to institute and a couple came in and we hadn't met them before. Well, funny thing actually,...they both

served here a few years ago and just got married and came to visit. So, that was kinda funny.

We also started a project this week! We sisters decided to do a video about one of our members, Panajiotis. The video would be based off of the "I am a mormon" messages we see. But instead it would be in Greek. So, that was really fun and hard work! We were able to finish it too! So, we cant wait to show it:)

This Sunday we had a few new people who came to visit and see what the mormon church was about. so, that was pretty cool! Some people when they pass by the glass doors they see paintings of Jesus Christ and think the building is an  art gallery and come in and look at the paintings and that has actually been really amazing because it gives us the opportunity to talk about the gospel and how the building is actually a church.

The work is moving forward and I cant wait to be on a bike again! I love being able to be here adn serve the Lord with all my heart. Everyday is a miracle and a blessing!

Have a great week!

Sister Ramsay

Week 31 Cyprus

This week we had two lessons with Amanda! We had one lesson with her on the beach. It was incredible! We invited her to church and she came! We were so happy to see her! She hasn't been coming for awhile and this time when she came she said she really enjoyed it and loved seeing the other members! So, that was a good experience. She is planning on getting married soon and so we will be helping her with that.

We also meet up with Antonia and had a lesson with her. We invited her to come to the movie that we had on Sunday night. It was the Joseph Smith movie. She came and had a lot of questions about his life and we were able to answer her questions and she was able to understand what Joseph Smith really went through. It was really neat to be able to watch the movie with her. 

This week we also did some service. We have two places that we go to help the poor. We have a warehouse where they have donations of clothes and we help sort them and people that need them come by and collect them. The other place is similar but a warehouse with food. And so we bag potatoes and oranges and all other sorts of food and people come by and take what they need. I love it. I really love being able to go and help out. Its real sweet!

My trainer actually came this week for vacation. So, that was soo cool to be able to see her and reunite! haha!

And today for P-day we are going bowling with some members:)

I hope you all have a great week!

 Love ya all!

Sister Ramsay