Oi! Meu nome é Sister Nordstrom e eu sou um missionaria da Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias. Eu amo O Livro de Mórmon!
Family portrait!! Me with all 4 of my daughters and my granddaughter!
My new companion is Sister Desirie Lewis from Kaysville, UT! She was called to the Brazil Goiania mission but has not yet gotten her visa. She just spent 6 weeks in the Provo MTC (she was supposed to be in the Brazil MTC) and now she is with ME! And I couldn't be happier. Everyone asks when she'll get her visa, and we just say 3 months because that is when I go home and I would love to keep her the rest of my time here. After 1 day together I feel like we've known each other forever (is that so cliché?).
Anyway, we are practicing her Portuguese and I am having a blast learning it! Sister Abel told me that when Sister Lewis introduced herself with all the new missionaries at the transfer meeting, she knew that I was going to be training her. She is hilarious, quirky, beautiful, exactly obedient, and hard-working! We have already seen some miracles in the last week that we have been together.
The reason I didn't email yesterday (Monday) is because we were called to an emergency mission-wide meeting in Franklin. We were sadly informed that the First Presidency has called President and Sister McKee home and released them as our mission presidents. :'( It was devastating news. They have been through EVERYTHING the past 6 months, and while Sister McKee was in the hospital we could have expected the call home. But now that Sister McKee is alive and recovering we thought they would stay. We are shocked, we don't understand, and we are not ready for it. But I know that a Prophet of the Lord called them here, and a Prophet of the Lord called them home.
What makes me saddest is that they are returning home the first week of July so by one transfer I miss them releasing me from my mission. I've been looking forward to that night in the mission home with the McKee family the whole time. But, as President McKee reminded us yesterday, this is NOT about us. It is never about us. It is about the Lord. I think of President and Sister Andersen and how overwhelmed they will be coming into the best mission in the world, the Tennessee Nashville Mission, and I am grateful that I will have one transfer to help them adjust.
I don't know anything about President and Sister Andersen, except that they were called as regular missionaries to the Washington mission. Imagine their surprise to hear that instead of reporting to Washington on July 2, they are reporting to Tennessee to be the mission presidents! They are from Ogden, UT and have 4 children who are all grown.
As a mission, we committed to baptize in the month of June, each companionship. This was always President McKee's vision, for each companionship to baptize monthly. I have already talked with our Relief Society Presidency and Bishop and the ward will be fasting with us this Sunday for a baptism here in Thompson's Station. Please include us in your prayers! It will happen.
Yesterday we took a historical picture as a mission. I posted it on Facebook....it is the largest group of missionaries the TNM has ever seen!
I am humbled by the popularity our song has received on the Internet. LDSLiving, General Conference Facebook page, and many other sources have shared and re-shared it. I only hope that someone gets baptized because of it. Wouldn't that be nice?
We had some encounters with anti-Mormon sentiment this week, and my faith was a little shaken up. I turned completely to the Book of Mormon, and I am so grateful for the testimony that I have developed of it. It has become the glue that holds me together. The Book of Mormon IS the word of God. It is the keystone of our religion and the Church crumbles without it. It is true, and you will never find otherwise. No one has ever been able to disprove the validity of the Book of Mormon. It brings me closer to Jesus Christ and reconnects me with Heavenly Father when I feel like my light has gone dim. It fills my day with purpose. It fills me with joy. It calms me and brings me peace. I received another very powerful witness this morning of its truthfulness just this morning. I hope you all are making it a part of your daily life.
Keep praying for missionaries and for how you can share the Gospel with your friends and neighbors. :)
Love,
Sister Ryceejo Nordstrom
