Plymouth, New Hampshire

Hello Everyone-

Well I am now in Plymouth, New Hampshire. We have a HUGE area.... and it is a branch. I have no Idea what cities my area covers, because it is so huge, and there are tons of cities. the northern most is Lincoln, the southern ones are Bristol (i think). It is SO beautiful here. We are in the White mountains. I had forgotten what mountains look like.... so I am totally loving everything. Fall is right around the corner. The leaves are changing, and it is so pretty.

I am serving with Sister Hill. She is from the Boise area in Idaho. It is her last transfer.... so in 5 more weeks I will have a new companion. Ever since my first transfer, I have wanted to serve with Sister Hill. She was my trainers MTC companion. Sister Nelson always said she thought we should serve together. She is so great, I love her already! We are very similar, so it is fun.

The apartment is SUPER tiny. The one is Sanford was twice the size almost. So it is weird trying to get "settled" in, when there isn't much room to put anything..... And I have a TON of stuff... packing was terrible. I don't want to do it again.... haha. We think I will be here till The middle ish of Jan.

I did miss Sis. Patten's baptism, but Sister Brovont was supposed to take pictures, and then send them to you mom, to send to me. :)

The branch here is so amazing. Until 2 transfers ago, it had been 6-10 years since Sisters had been here. The branch treats us so well..... They are so willing and helpful. It's great.

So my first full day here we went to stop by a semi-less active lady. When we got there she let us right in. Her grandson was there. We shared a scripture about the doctrine of Christ (baptism mostly). Sister Hill asked Eli (the grandson) what he knew about the Book of Mormon. He said, "Not much." then She invited him to learn, he said he wants too, so she invited him to be baptized. He said he had been thinking about it a lot lately... but there is one problem. He can't start learning till he is 18. We were so sad. But then he told us that he turns 18 on the 30th of September!!!!!!! MIRACLE!!!! So we set up a time to teach him on Oct. 1st. It was such a miracle. We went to do a referral lesson with a less active, and ended up with a new investigator, that has been thinking about the church and baptism for a long time! When we got back in the car, we both were freaking out... so excited.

We have so really good investigators. Bro. and Sis. Marsh and Nancy Kirk are the 3 I have met. I haven't met the others yet.

I love it here so much already. I was SO sad to be leaving Sanford, but I really am so happy here. I'm so happy to be serving with Sister Hill, and I have already grown so much in these last few days. Sister Hill is REALLY in tune with the spirit, so I think that is rubbing off on my a little bit. :) It feels good.

Oh, I already have a nick name from one of the Part member families. We had dinner with them last night. Sister Hill told me that they make up nick names for all the missionaries, and I would probably be getting one in the next few weeks.... well we were there for not even 10 min. before I got mine. It is "smiles" :) I'll take that one. It's funny, because that is what Bro. Crispin called me too. The gospel makes you happy, so I do smile a lot!!! :)

Well I'm excited for all the new adventures here. I have been told there are a lot of moose, bears, wolf, mountain lions, and everything else around here. We aren't allowed to put our garbage outside over night, because the bears come.... and our garbage cans outside are all torn up from bears. :S yeah, that is scary. Sister Hill said that they have seen a moose and a bear while out tracting. (and she has only been here for 2 transfers). So pray that I won't become "prey". hahaha (wow, what a lame joke. :P)

So Sister Hill had some sickness last transfer, so every day we have to come in at 8pm, and we get a nap time after lunch. It's nice... but it will be weird in 5 weeks to have to change it,and fill in that extra 2 hrs.


WE got to see the last hour of women's conference. The satellite wasn't working at the church, so we had to rush over to a members house. we missed Sis. Becks talk.
Well that is all for this week. Love you all!

Sister Rankin

where in the world is sister Rankin?

Where oh where will our Hillary go. oh where oh where can she be?
Can't wait for next weeks email to see where she was transferred to.

Last week in Sanford, Maine

hello everyone....
Well, "I'm leaving Sanford, ME... don't know when I'll be back again." I'm getting transferred tomorrow morning. I am SO bummed. Loral is getting baptized this Friday at 6 pm.... missed it by a couple of days. :( I'm really going to miss the Sanford ward, our investigators, my district, and Sister Brovont. We had so much fun these last 2 weeks. Lot's of singing and making up songs. So last Monday for district p-day, we went down to the Elders building. We played ultimate Frisbee and football, 2 hand touch football (kind of... Sister Brovont and I had to guard each other, and the Elders couldn't touch us... we didn't play that one for long). Then we played baseball in the gym.... Our district leader, Elder Beard, was running and went to "slide" into the base, but because their gym is carpet, his knee didn't move. Needless to say he got hurt pretty bad. His knee got all swollen and he couldn't walk on it for a few days. So after he got injured we stopped playing baseball, and played speed instead. I beat the elders in the first game, and took 2nd in the 2nd game. it was so much fun!!!! Then we just sat around and talked. It was such a fun day.... a well needed day too. This week our lesson with Loral was so good. We were going over her baptism program, and as she was picking out the songs, she got so overwhelmed with the spirit. She picked the song "Scatter Sunshine", because she said the words described how she was feeling. :) That was so exciting to see!!!!!
Then on Thursday we taught Elizabeth Earl. The spirit is so strong with her. After the first vision we asked her how she felt. She said she knows it's true, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet!!! :) Then we extended a baptism date. She accepted Nov. 12th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was so excited, We were so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I'm so sad that I'm going to be leaving her too)
I got the package, thank you mom! I loved it!!!
So we made up a lot of songs this week, and sang the Elders the one's we had already made. They loved them. They told us that they wish we could put them on a CD so that they could listen to them all the time. haha, that made us feel good. Last night when we told them I was leaving, they were all sad. They were like, "What are we going to do with out our Brovont and Rankin duo??" We have become so close. It's so fun. WE made up a song to the tune of "I hope they call me on a mission", it is called "I hope we don't leave Rochester District." We talked about each missionary in our district. It was fun, the Elders thought it was so funny...... I'm worried that my new companion won't like to make up songs........ That is what helps me get through the long rough days. Singing the songs we have made up, and making up new ones. We counted this week, and Sister Brovont and I have made up like 15 songs. A few we never wrote down, but we sang them all the time. A lot of them we did write down, and also sang them all the time. Oh, we also found out that the Elders had forwarded our messages to our zone leaders and the assistants. haha, everyone loves our songs. Too bad I can't sing, because it won't sound the same with out Sister Brovont. haha.
We also asked the Elders to describe us in a few words. (to help with our song) They said I was: joyously captivating, witty, motherly, and predictably unpredictable. hahahahhaha. It was funny.
Well I am sad to leave Sanford, but I know that where every I go, it is because the Lord needs me there. I will let you know next week were I end up!!!
Love you all! :)
Love, Sister Rankin

Sanford week 23

Hello Everyone-

Well this was a ROUGH week here in Sanford for Sister Brovont and I... so I'm going to just talk about the good that came this week..... because with all the hard times, there were also a lot of miracles.

First off, Sis. Loral Patten is doing so good. She is really preparing for her baptism. She is opening up a lot more, and expressing her thoughts a lot better. It feels good to see her understanding come, and her testimony grow.

On Wednesday at district meeting, the Elders in my district gave me a blessing for peace and comfort. It was really neat to be surrounded by 4 worthy priesthood holders, and see them use it. We always see the Elders in their role plays, and trainings, so it was a really good and neat experience to see them in a different light. It really helped me, and was much needed at that time. What a blessing it is to be able to ask 19-22 year old guys for a blessing, and be able to get one. The priesthood is amazing, and we are all SO lucky to have it restored again on the earth!!!!

We taught two new ladies this week. Tonya Cline and Ellen Lheureux. They both have great potential, are both looking for the truth, both have lots of questions that we CAN answer.... It's exciting. We are teaching both of them again next week.... The only hard thing will be getting them to come to church... which is one of the more important things. :) Also Elizabeth Earl that I mentioned a few weeks ago, came to church yesterday for the first time. Oh my goodness, the spirit was so strong. The talks were on the temple, and Sunday school was about baptism. She was crying the whole time. After she said that she was learning so much from the spirit. That she loved it, and it really brought some peace and comfort into her mind. SO EXCITING!!!! And, we finally were able to set up a time to teach her this week! So that was exciting too.....

Saturday we were able to go with Sis. Loral Patten, and a few of our members to the Joseph Smith Memorial in Sharon (South Royalton), VT. It was such a great experience. We watched the Joseph Smith movie, and then we went on a tour with just the missionaries, the investigators and the Director of the memorial. The spirit was so strong. Loral loved it! It is such a beautiful and peaceful place. Our whole district went, so it was nice to be able to meet their investigators as well, and see all of them feel the spirit so strongly!

Funny story for the week. Sister Brovont and I had bought a big bag of sour patch kids. When they were finished we wanted to do a challenge. We took all the left over sour sugar stuff, split it in half, and then ate it in one time.... we were seeing who was going to react the most. SO STUPID!!! I almost barfed, it hurt so bad. And I coughed, and I swear some of it went up my nose..... so I was feeling the after effects of it for hours. GRR!!!!! NOT a good idea, but we got a funny video out of it. haha. Well that was the good parts of my week. This Friday will be my 6 month mark.... CRAZY!!!!!!!!! it has gone by so fast!Love you all,

Love, Sister Rankin

a letter arrived in the mail

Hello Everyone-
Wow, this was a CRAZY WEEK! The district P-day that I was excited for last week, didn’t go as planned. Right after the Elders got to our church they got a phone call—Emergency transfer happened, our district leader (of 3 Weeks) was sent up to be a zone leader in a different zone. So they had to leave so he could pack.
Then Monday night we got a message from President Wilkey saying one of the sisters who had gotten home from her mission 2 weeks prior was diagnosed with cancer…(she served with me for one week during my 1st transfer.)
Then on Thursday & Friday I got a call from President Wilkey… one of those calls that NO ONE wants to get. My cousin Brady passed away on Friday morning. Thursday I got a call to warn me

that he wasn’t doing well , and would probably pass on soon. I spent the rest of the night reflecting.
Wednesday night we had taught a class on the Atonement, using Alma 7:11-12. We talked about how Christ’s suffering was for much more than for our sins! It was for our pains, afflictions and sorrows, etc. Perfect timing huh?! ( picture Hillary saying goodbye to Brady on way to MTC)
Then Friday morning Sister Brovont answers the phone. I hear President Wilkey’s voice, and I know MY hero Brady had died.

I was allowed to call home. For a 15 min., phonecall Thank goodness I was allowed to do that! Even though I am still sad, and miss Brady a ton. I was able to get some peace, by hearing more about it from my mom!
I know Brady is smiling away, and teaching so many people about Christ and His gospel.
Between my testimony of the plan of salvation,the atonement and lots of prayers for and by many people, I was and am able to gain my strength, and go and teach the plan of salvation with more power!
Oh, did I mention that on Wednesday night we got a message telling us all to get 72 hr. kits ready to go in case we have to be evacuated due to Hurricane Earl?!
To say the least, this was a HIGH stress & emotional week.
On a happy note, on Saturday the ward had an activity. We showed up for dinner & a few activities after. One of the activities was a pie eating contest. Sister Brovont & I participated. It was those hostess pies. Ha Ha. All the little primary kids were yelling, “the missionaries are doing it”. They were so excited! Then at church on Sunday we could hear the kids talking about it! It was funny!
This week we were able to do a stop by lesson with Elizabeth Earl. (I think I mentioned her last week) on my goodness, she is so prepared! She was teaching us! The only problem is that she is CRAZY busy so it’s hard to get a set return appointment with her!
Then we found a lady named Tonya Clyde. She had a lot of questions, that the gospel can answer. We are teaching her on Wednesday. So that’s exciting.
This week is Richards Baptism interview and the next week is Loral’s interview and Richard’s baptism
sister Rankin

Hello-
Thank you for the package mom!!! It was fun to see pictures of all my families... my real family, and my ward family! :) It made me happy!!!

We had a really slow week, so this might be a really random and boring e-mail. We only taught 2 lessons all week, and one of them was to a less active lady, and it was going Visiting teaching with a sister from the ward.
So last Monday night we went to contact a referral we had gotten from our ward mission leader, Bro. "L". Her name is Elizabeth Earl. Her mother is dying of cancer, and she is a single mom. She had been friends with Bro. L for 29 years. When she answered her door, she was so excited to see us. she had just gotten a message on her phone from Bro. L inviting her to our Wednesday night gospel teaching class at the church. She was so glad we showed up, she told us on Wednesday that if we hadn't shown up, she might not have come to our class. Truly a blessing!Tuesday and Wednesday we tracted all day. Tuesday we were kind of getting bummed that NO ONE would even let us say anything more than who we were before they closed the door. During dinner we got a message from our district leader and his comp. (E. Fairbanks and Lowe)... they sang us "As Sisters in Zion." it was so funny. It really busted our moods for the rest of the night. We spent the night singing songs we have made up between doors. It was fun.
Wednesday was rainy ALL DAY LONG!!! Before we went out were were worried. We were going to be tracting from 10am-7pm. With lunch and dinner, and contacting a referral to be the only thing to break it up... and it was poring rain. Well we had so much fun! We got soaked, but we were singing, and enjoying ourselves. The rain was coming so hard, that we were getting rained on by our umbrellas. They were so saturated that they were dripping on us. My hair was soaked. haha. But that night we had a really spiritual gospel teaching class. We had 3 recent coverts, Bro. Crispin, Elizabeth, and then 3 ward members. We talked about the second half of the Plan of Salvation. (The atonement through 3 kingdoms). One of the recent converts said it was one of the most spiritual lessons he had been in. It was really good, because Bro. Crispin's comments really helped Elizabeth feel comfortable, and not like the only one who didn't know what was going on. (We have high hopes for Elizabeth.)
Thursday we had Zone Conference!!!!!!! I GOT TO SEE SISTER HATCH!!! Oh my goodness, i miss her so much. It was so fun to see each other and get to catch up! Conference was good too. We did it A LOT different than normal. President spoke for about an hour and a half, and then we did workshops and watched the new missionary movie "The District 2". It was a lot of fun....

Mom, there were so many things back home that I wanted to buy for clothes, but we didn't think they would be missionary appropriate.... well with the new clothes rules, they totally would have worked.... BUMMER!!!
Friday we made up some more awesome songs. Now we also sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" to the tune of "I'll make a man out of you." (it is so fun to sing!!!) and then I need the every hour to "A whole new world". Sister Brovont is really good at making them work. now we sing them all they time! Along with our spirit of God song to I can go the distance. It makes tracting go by A LOT faster. Friday night we also saw Taylor Swift..... okay, we didn't, but she was right across the bridge that ends our area. So we could have seen her if our area went like another 200 yards or so. But she filmed a music video in Kennebunk Port, so she was there doing the release of it and performing. (Someone told us during our door contact). So we barely missed seeing her... but We told the Elders that she was here, and they were so jealous. it was funny!
Saturday we took Sis. Loral Patten to the Somersworth Elders baptism. After she was the baptism, she said she feels at peace. She said she wants to be baptized because that's what she feels she needs to do, and that it is what God wants her to do..... before it was "Because that's what you do in your church." So we are so excited for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today we are having a district P-day! We are so excited. Our district is like a family. Sister Brovont is the mom. I'm the annoying little sister, E. Tidwell is the annoying big brother, E. Beard is like the cool uncle, and then E. Fairbanks and E. Lowe are the little brothers that are funny. We have a lot of fun together. We are going to play basketball or something, we don't really know, at our church. When the Elders heard that our gym has a wood floor that made the decision of where we were going to have it (theirs is carpet). We found out last night at 10:15 that we were having it, so we still don't really know what we are going to do. it will just be fun! :)Well that is about all for this week!
Good luck everyone with school starting and stuff!
love, Sister Rankin

A great week

I NEED ANOTHER JOURNAL. MINE WILL ONLY LAST ME A MAX OF 10 MORE DAYS!!!!

Hello everyone-This week was such a great week!!!!!!

Tuesday President and Sister Wilkey came out to see us. We were going to have a picnic with them, but they were running late (Pres. got stuck at the mission office), so they went out tracting with us.... we only made it to one door before they had to leave. We were at the door for 30 min. though. It was really neat to see President Wilkey interacting with the man we met. We didn't talk much about the gospel, because right off the back the man told us he was Jewish and didn't want to listen. It was a great lesson on knowing that we can talk to people and have a normal conversation with them, even if they aren't interested. and we don't have to feel bad for doing it.... We ended up getting a private garden tour of this mans yard. It was cool.
Later that night we had our lesson with Richard. I was following up with him on how his smoking and coffee was going. He said he was done! He hadn't smoked or had any coffee for 3 days!!!!!!! It was so exciting. He didn't even tell us! It was a great surprise! Then we had a great lesson with him about Christ. We decided to give him some pass along cards, because he said people keep coming up to him and asking why he is so happy. He says it's because he goes to the True Church. His testimony is so strong, and it is SO fun to see the change in him.
Thursday we tracted the whole day..... We kept going to streets on our map, that didn't really exist in real life! It was so annoying. So we just went to the road that was real. We didn't know what it was called, we just saw houses so we went and knocked on them. We were able to teach two lessons, but no return appointments. But it was a good day.
That night President and Sister Wilkey called to check up and see how the rest of Tuesday had gone. Before they ended the call, President sang us a lullaby. It was the one he sang to his daughters when they were young. It was so neat. He said we are really special, because not very many people have had that sung to them. WE HAVE THE BEST MISSION PRESIDENT EVER!!!! :) We love the Wilkey's!!!!!
Friday we had another lesson with Richard. We had asked him to write his testimony of the Christ and Joseph Smith. It was such a sweet and sincere testimony. He talked about how much joy this gospel has brought into his life. How he was so grateful that Joseph Smith was called to bring back the truth! Then he bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was SO neat! It's amazing to see how much he has changed. He is so happy... he is giddy for his baptism. It is awesome. I remember when we met him and he said he would never quit smoking...... that he couldn't, it was his vice. Well look at him now! He is such a solid investigator, and he loves the ward, and they love him!
Saturday I almost got ran over by Sister Brovont and another car. We were driving on a semi busy road, that had lots of hills and curves. We needed to turn around, and Sister Brovont didn't make it. So I had to jump out in the middle of the road to back her up. Well this car comes speeding around the corner. They were going to hit us. But I was in the middle of the road. Sister Brovont wasn't moving, so I ran to jump in the car. when I have one foot in the car, she starts driving. I was holding on for dear life, and trying to hop into the car.... luckily I did, with not much pain, but I would have gotten hit if I hadn't made it in the car. It was really funny, but scary! But no worries mom, I AM SAFE!!!
Also on Saturday we met this kid who told us he bases his life and beliefs off of the Twilight Zone..... OH MY GOODNESS, really! Both Sister Brovont and I were in shock and didn't know what to say. I thought he was crazy!!!!
My foot is getting a lot better. I feel like I could run on it, but the Dr. says no running or kicking with it yet. I don't know when I will be able to... but at least it isn't painful anymore!

I only got one letter last week... from Kortney on Sat. So I will try to remember what you said in your e-mail so i can have something to write to you.
Well my time is up....
Love, Sister Rankin