Christmas in Norwalk

Christmas in Norwalk!

Hello everyone!! Thank you for all of the emails this week. I love getting emails. So fun! It was fun to see all the pictures from Mccall all the way in Norway! This week was really great. On Tuesday we went to Kirtland for the Christmas Mission Conference. Yay I was soo glad to be going to Kirtland again. We live about 2 hours away from Kirtland so we had to get up and leave at 7am. Yikes. We got to the temple 20 mins early and the whole mission was out in front socializing. It was a great sight to see. Everyone was so happy and excited. I loved being able to see all my friends and past missionaries that I had served with. Not to mention it was great to see all my Kirtland Sisters again and all of the Kirtland Senior Missionaries. We spent about 2 hours inside the Kirtland Temple. All of the Stake Presidents from the whole mission were there and they bore their testimonies to us. Also Elder Seldon (the area authority) spoke to us as well as Karl Anderson. It was so great. We sang lots of Christmas hymns and the Spirit of God. It was really powerful to have the whole entire mission inside of the Kirtland temple together. President Vellinga spoke to us. For those of you who know President Vellinga you know how awesome he is. He is so hilarious and powerful and spiritual. It was a great meeting. After we spent some time in the temple we went down to the stake center for lunch. The Kirtland stake was so great to feed all 250 missionaries. We pulled up to the stake center and Connee and Chuck were there! It was soo great to see them and get to talk with them. They are so great. They are really solid in the church. I am proud of them. I feel so blessed that all of my converts are so solid in the church. It makes me really sad to see converts get baptized and then leave the church. That just means that I need to be super in tune with the Spirit and make sure that they are fully converted before they are baptized. About a month ago the APs asked every misssionary to submit a picture of them with their companion and a picture of them at a baptism and then write a short miracle that we have seen on our missions. During lunch they had a slide show of all of the pictures and they showed it to us. It was so much fun. They complied all of the miracles into a book and gave that to us as a Christmas present. It was so cool!!! After lunch we went to the Visitors' Center to take a mini tour. They want everyone to bring more investigators to take a tour so they made sure that the missionaries knew what happened on tours. They also gave us some time to look at all the the nativities that were set up. After that we went back to the stake center and President Vellinga spoke to us. I just love him and his wife. It was really powerful to have the whole mission together.

 

Remember our investigator Chris? Well he confessed his love for me and pretty much said that he isn't interested in the church but forming a relationship with him. Shoooottt! We tried to salvage it by saying that he feels happy when he is with us because it is the Spirit and not love but he wasn't buying it. Hopefully one day he comes to know that this is the true church.

 

We have been working with a less active and a 12 year old girl that lives with here. It has been going really great. On Monday her dad came home and he said that he is really, really thankful that we have been meeting with his daughter, Honor. He said that he really wants her to make good choices and it is really great that she has role models like us. We asked him if he would want to meet with us and we sent up an appointment for a few days later. Wow it went so great. His name is Jason. He has a really strong faith in Christ. He has made some mistakes in his past and he recognizes that it is his job as a father to make sure that Honor doesn't make the same mistakes as him. We gave him a For The Strength of Youth and he loved that he had a guide to what he needs to be teaching Honor. They both accepted Baptism for Jan 11!!!!!

 

Saturday was our ward Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun and super easy. It was pot luck and tons of food showed up!!!!!! Jason and Honor came and they loved it. This super cute family talked with them the whole night and they set up a possiblity to do FHE at their house sometime. I love love members that are doing missionary with without us pestering them. Jason and Honor couldn't come to church yesterday because Jason had to work but they are planning on coming this Sunday. I am really proud of Jason for stepping it up as a father and recognizing that he can help his daughter turn out to be a great person.

 

I think that is everything that has been going on this week. Oh yeah.... Chris Mikucki got the Priesthood and has been blessing the Sacrament. He is also going to the temple in 5 days to do baptisms!!! I am seriously so proud of him. His whole family is against him joining the church and he has continued to do what he knows is right. YAY Chris!!!!!!!

 

Well I love being a missionary so much. Next week is transfers so we will see if I end up back in Kirtland again. I love you all and I am so grateful that I have so much support!!!!! Thank you for everything that you do for me.

 

PS It is fffrrreeeezzzzzziiinnnggg here in Norwalk. haha! Good think I have tons of warm clothes.

PPS This autistic girl sitting next to me just yelled at me for trying to help her with her computer. hahaha!!!! Good thing I can put up with that because of all my practice with Austin!!

 

Sister Frampton

 

PPPS Don't forget that my birthday is December 23 :)

It's December

Hello everyone that I love. Thank you for all the emails this week. It looks and sounds like everyone had a really great Thanksgiving. I had a really awesome one myself. We were invited over by a member and all of the missionaries in the ward went (there are 6). The meal was so yummy and it was complete with pumpkin pie. It was really fun. 1/2 of us dressed up as indians and the other 1/2 dressed up as pilgrims.

 

We have still been meeting with Chris. We had some good lessons with him. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and it went really good. We got a call Wednesday night saying that we got permission to go to KIRTLAND!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to go back to the place that I love and see all the sisters that are there. Our plan was to take Chris and have our less active Tara drive us. I spent Thursday and Friday morning teaching Sister Warden about the Whitney Store so she could give the tour with me. She is really smart and she remembered the facts really well. When Friday came I couldn't focus all morning because I was so excited to go to Kirtland. We left at 2:00. Kirtland is a 2 hour drive. We had a lot of fun in the car. It was really great to be back in Kirtland. I really wanted Chris Mikucki to take the tour with us. I thought that he could be a good help for our investigator Chris. (Sorry Connee, I know you hate the word investigator) I called Chris and he was able to come take the tour with us. The Spirit was really strong in the store. WOW!!! Chris Mikucki gave a really great testimony of the church. He has come so far and we were very impressed with him. He's amazing. After the tour Kirtland was having it's annual Light up Kirtland celebration. We didn't know that was going on but we were so glad that we were there. We had wrapped all of the trees with Christmas lights back in October so it was fun to see them all lit up. A lot of people from the Shaker Heights ward were there and that was great! Chris and Tara said that they really liked it and they had a great time. We had a lesson with Chris on Saturday and it was really, really weird. He said that he doesn't need God's help with anything. He thinks it is selfish to ask God for help. We also found out that he doesn't believe in Jesus or the Bible. He thinks that there is truth in the world for each person and that there isn't just one universal truth. We don't really know how to help him. It was a weird lesson. Chris said that he would come to church on Sunday but he didn't. That can be frustrating sometimes. After church we called Chris's friend Keaton and scheduled a lesson with him. Keaton is so awesome. He told us how he came to find God and we really felt the Spirit as he talked. He told us that he prays a lot and really tries to follow the Spirit and do what God wants him to do. We started teaching the Restoration and he agreed with everything- up until we started talking about the Book of Mormon. (Oh ya I forgot to remind you that Keaton is the guy we met last week. Keaton had met with missionaries in the past so he knows a lot about the church. ) Keaton does not understand the need for the Book of Mormon. We bore testimony of it and showed him scriptures but nothing worked. It started to get a little heated and he said that he would never ever read the Book of Mormon. Any advice?? Connee? He is a born again so I need your advice. He said that he would like to meet with us again so that is good.

This week has been really good. We are working hard and trying to help people progress. I love Norwalk and all of the people here. Tomorrow the whole mission is meeting in the Kirtland Temple for mission conference. So fun!!! I'm excited to be back in Kirtland again!!! Twice in 1 week. I love you all and miss you. I cannot wait to see your faces over the computer on Christmas. Tara (a member here) said that we could use her computers and internet. I know that Google Hang Out allows more then one person to video chat. That way me and Mickle can both be there. Can you check that out dad?

 

LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Sister Frampton

 

Write me letters

246 West Main St. #D

Norwalk, OH 44857

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Hey everyone! This week has been really great. It is really late today because we relaxed at home this morning so I only have a small amount of time to email today. Thanks for all of the mail and emails. I love all of the pictures that everyone sent. So fun!

This week we found the most prepared person. On Thursday for some reason I was really. really tired. I hadn't been this tired in a really long time. It was weird. We were in a lesson with a lady in a warm, cozy trailer and I was trying so hard not to fall asleep. After I thought about stopping at a gas station and getting some caffeine but I decided to just push through. After I made the choice that I wasn't going to stop, the gas light went off and we were on empty. I guess that Heavenly Father really wanted us to go to this gas station. We filled up with gas and we went inside to get Diet Coke. As we were paying Sister Warden blurted out "Have you heard of our church?" He was like "Uh what church?" We told him a little about our church and gave him a card to order a free Book of Mormon. His name is Christ and he is 23. We went out to the car to leave but felt like we should go back in and give him a Book of Mormon and get his number. We gave it to him and he said that he would read it and he gave us his number. Cool. The next day was Friday. The Elders in our ward were having a baptism that night and we felt like we should invite him to come to it with us. We invited him and he said that he had plans with his friends that night. Shooot!! Right before the baptism started he texted us and told us that he decided to come to the baptism. AAAWWWW!!!!! Miracle. He came to the baptism and brought his Book of Mormon. He told us that he was already in Nephi 3. He really enjoyed the baptism. After the baptism we asked him if we could give him a tour of the church building. Our best friend and amazing ward missionary, Tara, came with us. We had a really good spiritual conversation with him and we learned some really great things about what he believes. He said that he could meet the next day for a lesson. We brought a ward missionary named Shawn with us. She is really interesting. We started out the lesson really great. Then from out of no where Shawn jumped in and took over and through the Spirit out the window. It was so intense. It was like she was interragating him. I kept poking Sister Warden's leg and she would mouth to me "HELP." It was so uncomfortable. After the lesson we walked Shawn outside and waited until she left and then ran back to the door to tell Chris that we were so sorry for Shawn. He was really nice but agreed that she was intense. We were really nervous that he was going to drop us because of how scary that lesson was. That night we had an hour where an appointment fell through. We thought that we should make it up to Chris so we invited him to go get a treat with us. He ended up bringing 2 friends. This in it's self is a miracle because his friend Keaton has met with missionaries in the past and he is really knowledgeable about the church. We spent the whole time talking with Keaton and he was really interested in meeting with us again! Miracle. Chris texted us late Saturday night and told us that he was drunk and he felt really guilt for it. We figured that he probable wouldn't show up for church because he had a really late night but we still had a lot of hope and faith. Well to add to the list of miracles Chris showed up for church. He really enjoyed Priesthood. There was a munch and mingle after church and he stayed for that. A lot of people introduced themselves to him. YAY!!!!!! Tara suggested that we all go to Kirtland and take a tour and look at the Nativities. AHH KIRTLAND!!!! I was so excited. She said that she could drive. Chris said that he would like that and he would check his work schedule. It is really weird that I have to get permission to go to Kirtland. I def miss being surrounded by Kirtland. He said that he wanted to have a lesson after church with us! What??? Amazing! A few hours later we met with him and it went so great. He said the opening prayer and in it he said "Thank you for showing me this new direction that I need to following." We taught him the restoration and it went so great. The Spirit was really, really strong! We have seen so much change in him in such a short time. Later that night we got the best text from him. He said that he has felt inspired to quit smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We haven't even mentioned the word of wisdom to him. The Spirit is preparing him for baptism. He is reading the Book of Mormon and praying and meeting regularly with us. I won't be surprised if he is baptized in a month. 

I am so grateful for the many miracles I have seen this week. Being a missionary is the best. This week an older couple has invited all 6 missionaries over for Thanksgiving. We are really excited. Thanks so much for all of your support. I love you all very much. Give Austin a hug from me!

Sister Frampton

Sandusky East

Hello everyone!! So much has happened this week! It has been crazy! Thanks for all of the emails this week. I really needed them. First things first. Here is my new address. Please mail me letters. I love getting mail. 

246 W. Main Street #D

Norwalk, OH 44857

Last week I was transferred to Sandusky East. It's about 2 hours from Kirtland. The town that I live in/get to work in is called Norwalk. It is really small. The town mostly consists of trailer parks. There are a few houses and they are historic homes built in the 1800s. It is know for herion use so a lot of people here need the gospel. I was really nervous about leaving Kirtland. I cried on transfer day but it was ok. I hated packing. Because my new area is so far from Kirtland my new companion wasn't at transfer meeting so I had to ride with missionaries that I didn't know out to the area. I met Sister Warden and she is great. She is a visa waiter going to Brazil. We get to do language study so that is fun. She is really good at teaching and always brings the Spirit. I really like being full pros. It was a lot of stress trying to balance work in Kirtland and work in the area. I like only having to focus on the area. It is also really nice that we live in our area. We can come home for meals or be at an appointment in 2 mins.

We have a lot of investigators so our goal is to not find anymore and instead get the ones that we have to progress. We stopped by these potentials named Susanne and Fran. They are so prepared. They live in a beautiful huge home. They let us in and we were able to talk with him. Susanne is really spiritual and really likes what the church has to offer. We were able to set up a return appointment with her. They will be a really great addition to the ward- they have jobs, a car, are willing to help others. 

There is a lady here named Dana that the Sisters met last week. Dana's husband is abusive to her and the kids. Dana wants to move out and leave him but she has no where to go and no money because he doesn't allow her to work and he doesn't allow her to have a driver's license. She has gone to the police about it but since they don't have any real evidence they aren't going to do anything. It is SSSOOOOO sad!!! We stopped by her house and she ran outside and told us that her husband would be home any minute and that she would get in trouble if we were there. She said that he will be sleeping at his girlfriend's house the next night so we could come back. We went back and we had a really good talk with her. We told her that she is a daughter of God and she needs to get out. Her kids (she has 3) were crying and asking their mom for dinner and she kept crying saying that they weren't going to eat that night. We got in the car and went to Burger King and brought back a feast for them. I wish there was more that we could do. We had a family night with them. They loved it. We taught them how to pray. The 10 year old prayed and then Dana prayed. The Spirit was really strong! When we were leaving she asked us if we could take all of the Burger King trash with us so that she wouldn't get in trouble. She had to pour the kids' drinks into another cup. It was so sad. She set up a return appointment with us. I know that if she will let us help strengthen her spiritually that she will start to find peace in her life. 

When I was unpacking my things and moving in I found a drawer full of Ensign and New Era magazines. We had this idea to drop one off to all our investigator and less actives. The people that we saw LOVED it! It was such a good, inspired idea. We were able to get some good return appointments. We found this less active named Mike. He is 23. He grew up in Sugar House, Utah. Over the years he has fallen away from the church. We had a really good conversation with him and he said that he would like to work with us and maybe come back to church. We actually have his return appointment tonight. 

Sister Warden told me that the ward really struggles with missionary work. How perfect that I just came from a ward that is amazing when it comes to missionary work and has amazing ward mission leaders. I told Sister Warden what my last ward did and we decided to pitch it to the ward mission leader. He loved it and we were able to have a lot of members come out to teach with us this week. I am really grateful for the ward mission leaders in the Shaker ward that have shown me how to work well with members. This ward is going to love doing missionary work. 

I got 2 really great emails today. One from Chuck and one from Connee. Connee spoke last night at the mission president's fireside. It was in Shaker so I couldn't go but I bet she did amazing!! Chuck is also doing really well. This is a part of the email he sent me: 

i have been listening to the book of mormon before i go to sleep and I let it play all night and i restart it from where i last remember it  and i even have down loaded the conferences from april and october so when im on the flights to Vegas i can watch the conferences again and or listen to the book of mormon. i am planning on at least listening to the book of mormon and learning more about it. i am in alma right now i was in jacob 7 earlier this evening. i hope to be able to have listened to the entire thing by the the time i leave for vegas and possibly a grand total of two times by the time i get home. There is soo much to learn and know.

Isn't he awesome?

 

I cannot believe that my mission is coming to an end (kinda). I have 3 more transfers left. 2 in Sandusky and then my last one will be in Kirtland. I am doing really good. I am really happy that I am full pros. Heavenly Father really does know what he is doing.  I cannot believe that I would even doubt him. Haha! 

Well I love everyone and I hope everything is doing great! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you!!

Don't worry about me I am doing great!!

Sister Frampton

FULL PROS

Hey everyone. Once again thanks for all of the emails this week. I really needed them! I am freaking out today! President came to the Visitors' Center on Sunday and asked if he could talk with me. President never does this so I was really worried. I was worried I did something wrong. He said that there are a lot of new missionaries here in the mission. He said that he needs a missionary that is experienced and knows what they are doing to go out and help these new missionaries. He said that he knows that I can be that missionary. He asked me if I would be willing to leave the Visitors' Center for 2 transfers (3 months) and serve on the other side of the mission. WHATTT??? This has happened to Sisters in the past but this is a rare thing. I am really nervous. I love Christmas at the Visitors' Center- remember from last year all of the nativities they set up and how well they take care of us at Christmas? I told President that I was really nervous but that I would do it. FYI: This means that my mailing address will change. I don't know what it will be yet so as of now send all my things to the missions office 2070 West 11th Street Lakewood, OH 44111.

In my letter last week I totally forgot to mention 2 of the most important things. On the 2nd Connee and Chuck went to the Columbus temple and did baptisms for the dead. I was able to get on familysearch.org and find a few ancestors that needed baptisms. I gave those to them and they were baptized for them. So cool! They loved it! Then the next Sunday Chuck passed the Sacrament. He did a really great job.

Last week we went to Costco and got our flu shots. That was exciting. We also had Zone Conference. It was so great. President helped us practicing teaching really simply! It was awesome. A few Saturdays ago we met a lady named Lita. We knocked on her door and she opened it and said "No thanks" and then closed the door. We were like "Whatever" and kept on tracting about 5 doors down Lita yelled from her porch for us to come back. We were invited inside and she had a lot of questions and was ready to argue. She actually reminded us a lot of when we first met Connee. We asked her if we could come back and she said we could. We called Connee and asked her if she would come with us. The next night Connee, Cory, Chuck came with us for FHE to teach Lita. They did amazing. Lita was really defensive but by the end of the lesson she had softened, given us her number and asked us to come back. Way to go Francis family!!! So proud of them.

Also a few days ago Chuck signed up to come teaching with us. We had planned to rake random people's yards for service. We knocked on one of Chuck's neighbor's door and he said that we could rake it. He was really cool. He came out and as we raked he asked us all about the church. He was really receptive. He said that he is Catholic and has been looking for another religion. He brought out cookies for us and told us to help ourselves. So nice! He accepted a Book of Mormon and asked for a schedule of all of the things that go on at our church. He said we could come back next Saturday. I hope that Sister Ahrendsen remembers to follow up with him. He is golden. He has 5 kids and all of them are above the golden age of 8!! :)

I got a letter this week in the mail from Grandma Schaar! Thanks Grandma! I love you!

It was really hard for me to tell Chris, Connee and Chuck that I am getting transferred. Chris has school tonight so we had to do an over the phone goodbye but we are going to Connee and Chuck's tonight. It is going to be hard but the ward is really great and is already taking such great care of them. Chris sent me the nicest email today: 

Sister Frampton:
So,First I wanna thank you for being my rock.Ive known you for a longer than almost anyone in the church.Ive learned so much from you.If it wasnt for you I dont know if id be a member of the church.You made it click for me.So thank you so much!

Im sorry you have to leave,but God needs you somewhere else right now.God knows best,we both know that.You are an amazing missionary so im confident that wherever they put you,you'll come out on top.Thats your nature.Im really proud of you for your service.I have a lot of respect for you.

So because I cant email over the phone too well ill cut this short.

We'll keep in touch.Im here when ya need me.

Oh,and I promise to keep in touch with Chuck and Connie.

Ill see you in a few months,and as always I have a email address so use it 

Best wishes

Chris

Isn't he so great? He is going to be a really strong member of the church. He was able to get the Priesthood on Sunday. I am so proud of how far he has come. He is really struggling with his family right now. They are super anti. He is only a 19 year old kid so at times he feels like he is all alone. Keep him in your prayers.

I think that is really all for this week. I love you all! I will let you know what my new mailing address is. I am so excited that Mickle is now in Norway!!!!!!!! Congrats girl!!!!!!! I love you all!!

Sister Frampton

It's November!

Hello everyone! I cannot believe that it is already November. Soon it will be Thanksgiving then my birthday (Don't forget Dec. 23! I will be accepting presents on this day) then Christmas and then in no time I will be home. I told President that I am choosing not to extend and he said that was fine and that my release day will be March 20th. I hope someone is planning on coming to get me on that day. I don't know how it works when we get picked up. Do you have to buy my plane ticket or is that included in all of the mission expenses? Dad will you call the mission office and find that out?

We had an interesting week this week. On Wednesday we went and had a lesson with Cory (Connee's son and Chuck's brother). It was such a sad lesson. He told us that he thinks he has learned all he can about our church and that he has made up  his mind that he doesn't want to be a part of it or learn from us anymore. I was really sad about this. He has seen the change that is has made with his mom and brother. He knows that it is a good church. I dunno. I guess it will just take time. It is good because we are doing the new member lessons with Connee and Chuck so we will still get to see Cory and he is still going to participate in FHE with all of us. Please pray for Cory. He is really struggling right now and needs all the help that he can get.

We had a really fun Halloween. I am glad that Austin got his birthday card and all of the stickers that I sent him. It looks like he had a really fun birthday. We had lunch at the church with this couple from the ward. It was so fun. She had put together these little boxes with candy in it because she knows we can't go trick or treating. They also gave us this Halloween pumpkin card. It was a fun little Halloween party. They are really nice. They were baptized a little more then a year ago and they just recently were sealed in the Columbus temple. After that we went to a less active's house, Debbie Brown. A while back we introduced Debbie and Connee. Debbie helped out with the music for Connee's baptism. Last week Connee called Debbie to thank her and to just talk and Debbie was really touched. She surprised us with the news that she was going to come to church on Sunday!!! We were seriously so excited. We have been working for a while with her. She ended up coming on Sunday and everyone was really nice to her. She said that she is going to keep coming!!!!!!!!!! After Debbie's we had an appointment with this teenager in our ward that was baptized a few years ago. She is the only one in her family that joined the church so the missionaries really try and support her. Her name is Heaven. We went to her house and no one was home so we called her and she said that her mom was working late and she was stuck at school for another hour. We decided to just go to the High School and have a lesson with her across the street at Wendy's. This high school is in Cleveland Heights and boy did I feel a little out of place! Not only were we the only modest dressed white girls, the school was packed with security guards. You had to be buzzed in to each building and the doors had metal detectors. It was really scary. We found out that a year ago a kid came to school and shot his pregnant girlfriend because he was mad that her parents wouldn't let her see him anymore. EEkkkk! It was not Olympus High School. After that we went to Connee's house. She had ordered Chinese food for us. Chris (my recent convert) came over also. Chris has been having a really hard week.  His family is not being nice to him because he joined the church. He was planning on going home (New York) for a few days and he was really stressed about what was going to happen. Connee sat him down and gave him the best pep talk. I was so impressed. She said that right now all he needs to do is be an example for his and they will see how great the church is. I was so proud of her. We taped candy to pass along cards and helped Connee had that out to Trick or Treaters. It was a lot of fun. It was a huge rainstorm that night so hardly anyone came. We did that for about an hour and then we played some games. Oh my gosh I have never laughed so hard in my life. I love Connee and her family. She has become my second mom. I will be so sad when I get transferred. Speaking of transfers... they are next week.

On Friday Chuck came tracting with us. It was a lot of fun. He has a strong desire to inform everyone of how great the church is. It was a good motivator because sometimes as missionaries we get in a rut and have the mentality of "It's just another door to knock." Chuck really loves God and really wants other people to  listen to our message. He is constantly trying to get his friends to meet with us.

So I have a cold. Not fun as a missionary. I think the reason I have this is because on Saturday it literally rained ALL day long. I mean it didn't stop once. It is something that I am still getting used to. I didn't even know what rain was when I was in Utah. I didn't even know it was possible for it to rain days in a row without every stopping. Well it does happen. It happens in Ohio. Since currently have no investigators we ended up tracting all day, from 10:30am-5:00pm. I had all of my rain gear on, boots and a coat. It was actually kinda fun to run and splash in puddles. I might end up missing the rain when I go home. We ended up at this house that had india looking pictures all over it. We knocked on the door and this lady dressed in an Indian outfit (head scarf, long skirt) told us to come inside. We were greeted by her husband and her mom. They are all Americans but they are of the religion Hare Krishna. I immediately recognized this religion. There is a huge Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork that I have been to a few times for the festival of colors. I talked with them about that for a while and they showed us their front room. It was their temple room. It was decked out in Indian figures and paintings and inscents. The couple was really really nice and welcoming. They sat us down and asked if we were hungry or if we wanted tea to warm us up. They didn't even care that we were dripping wet and getting rain all over their couch. The lady prepared a little bowl of chips for us and we each got a Diet Coke. They asked us what we believed in and they told us all about Hare Krishna. It is a beautiful religion. One of their teaching is that the spirit and the body are different and that we need to be doing everything that we can while we are in our bodies to ensure that our spirit has a good place to go once it leaves the body. They also said that now a days so many people think they can sit and do nothing and then complain about having nothing. We were like "ya we totally believe that." They gave each of us their religious text Bhagavad-Gita and we gave them a Book of Mormon. The guy opened to a random scripture. It was Alma 60:23

23 Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.

Coincidence? I think not? They were really amazed! As were we!!! That is so cool that what they had just told us was in the Book of Mormon. They filled up this plastic bag with inscents and flowers and books for us. It was really nice of them. They said that we were always welcome to come back. They were basically these hippies dressed up like they were from India. I love them. We are going to go back and invite them to the Nativity exhibit that will be going on at the Visitors' Center. I decided that each email from now on I am going to include a saying from the Bhagavad-Gita because I think it's kinda fun. So here is today's:

"Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better then inaction. A man cannot maintain his physical body without work." Amen.

Well my time is up here at the library! I love you all so much and I miss you like crazy. Thanks for everything that you all do for me. God loves you and Kirtland is the best church site!

Sister Frampton

Baptism!!! x 2

This week has been awesome! I know I keep saying that in each email but seriously this one was great. Thanks for the emails this week and all the pictures. The Frampton party looked way fun. What was going on on the stage with everyone? Did Grandma make everyone do Zumba again?

Ok so this week and last week we have been helping an old crazy lady dehoard her one room apartment. Seriously so scary. I have never had to work with a legit hoarder before. They are scary. It is a really weird psychological problem. About 20 years ago her aunt passed away and left her with 1/2 a million dollars. Sister Jankowski blew through that money on the Home Shopping Network and bought every "as seen on TV" product known to man. It was ridiculous. I mean it is all really nice stuff that is still in the package. I kept asking her if I could have things and she would get really mad. Haha I shouldn't have enjoyed egging her on. We decided to leave all of the really nice, unopened things but get rid of trinkets and junk. Every time she would turn around we would grab a handful of junk and put it in the garbage bag. We did this for 2 days in a row and we didn't even make a dent. It was depressing. Well on Wednesday we were having family night with Connee, Cory, Chuck and Elder Taylor (He is a service missionary at Kirtland) and Jankowski calls us in the middle of a tantrum because she can't find some dinky knick knack. Yikes!!!!! I knew for a fact that we had thrown it away. So we grabbed the 3 boys and off we went to her apartment complex to dumpster dive. Luckily we found what she was wanting back. This happened 2 more times with her. Her dumpster was emptied on Friday so she's out of luck if she wants anything else back. Yikes!!!! haha

Friday night was the ward Halloween party. It was so much fun! Oh my gosh. Remember that my ward is made up of newly married, mid-20 year olds that are in medical school? There are also a billion children and a billion pregnant moms. We had so much fun. The costumes were really, really creative. I was so impressed. It was also packed. They think probably 150 people came. So many people. Connee and Chuck came. They had a really great time. I just love wards that are solid.

Saturday I woke up feeling really great about the day. I mean who wouldn't feel good about a day full of 2 baptisms? We gathered all of the things that we were going to need for the baptism and off we went to Mayfield. Oh my gosh I totally forgot to mention that Sister Palmer came back in town for the baptism. We drove to Connee's house to pick up Sister Palmer. We went to the church and set everything and filled the font. It was so exciting. Of course I was a stress case but I really wanted it to be nice. I set up all of the refreshments and the tables exactly how mom would have done it. It looked good. Chuck and Connee invited tons of their friends so it was packed with non members. It was awesome. I had met a few of them before which was fun to see their friends again. Cory (Connee's son and Chuck's brother) gave a really great opening prayer. He actually got quite emotion in it. It was really neat. Sister Palmer gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost and Chris (my recent convert who has become good friends with Connee and Chuck) gave a talk on baptism. Oh ya so a few days before the baptism Chuck called me and said that instead of his dad doing the musical number he would really like it if I played the piano. Yikes! Does he know that missionaries don't really have time to practice the piano? I ended up playing the piano and it turned out fine. Brother Miner (one of the ward mission leaders) baptized them. Our ward got a new bishop and he is awesome. He said some really great remarks. The thing that I loved the most was Connee and Chuck's testimonies. Connee talked about Matthew 7 

15 ¶Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

She is really funny and she said "This church has a lot of really good fruit, and it's the kind of fruit that I like." Chuck's testimony was also really great. He said that while he was meeting with us he was really confused about what he should do so he prayed and Heavenly Father answered him by saying "Be still and ye shall know." So Chuck decided to really listen and he knew that this was the true church. It was an awesome baptism. They were so happy! After we went with them and Sister Palmer to Cheesecake Factory for a celebration. It was so fun and exciting. 
When we got to church on Sunday Bishop pulled us into his office and said that the youth are going to the temple on Saturday to do baptisms (the temple is 3 hours away) and he really wants Chuck and Connee to go with them. In order for that to happen Chuck would have to get the Priesthood right after church. WHOA!!! I was not planning on that but it was awesome. Chuck and Connee were confirmed in Sacrament Meeting and then after church Chuck was given the Priesthood. He was given the Aaronic Priesthood ordained to the office of a Priest. He was so happy and excited. They were both so excited to go to the temple to do baptisms. Yesterday they came to the Visitors' Center and Connee kept saying "ok so how do I get baptized for my dad?" It was so cute. They are so excited for the temple. 
As you have heard President asked if I wanted to extend my mission 7 weeks. After much prayer and talking with people I have decided to come home in March when I am suppose to come home. I love my mission so much but it has to come to an end at some point. Right? I love you all so much! Happy Birthday Mccall yesterday and Happy Birthday Austin on Thursday. If anyone wants to write me a letter my address is 7800 Kirtland Chardon Road Kirtland, OH 44094

Sister Frampton

Baptisms and fame

Thanks for everyone's emails this week. I love opening my emails and seeing so many. Thanks for all of the pictures. That is so fun that Mom, Dad and Austin got to meet all of my Kirtland Friends. I love them and miss them so much! Well remember my email from last week? Well I ended up in the church newspaper. Famous. hahaha! Here is the link to check it outhttp://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/64061/It-is-sacred-ground.html We saw the camera guy and I was like "Hey do you need pictures of Sister Missionaries?" He said "No but I guess I'll take one." Jackpot. The girl on the very left hand side of the picture is Sister Larsen. You met her this weekend. She went home during the summer and came back for the big celebration.

Nothing too exciting or new happened this week. We have been preparing like crazy for Connee and Chuck's baptism. They had their baptismal interview on Friday and they passed with flying colors. I am so proud of their success and how much they have changed. I was really scared when I first met Connee. She laughed at the Book of Mormon and would say some really wacky things like it was ok if someone killed another person as long as they found God along the way. I am glad she is passed all of that. We got them all fitted in their baptismal jumpsuits and they looked good! Their baptism is this Saturday at 1:00. Say a little prayer during that time :) Sister Palmer is coming back for the baptism and I am so excited!

Do you remember my recent convert Chris? He was baptized last month? He is amazing!!! Each month at the Visitors' Center we have a fireside that is directed towards investigators. Chris was asked to speak at it and tell his experience of how he came to know this church was true. He came 30 mins before and he said that he had been fasting all day (Did I mention that he is amazing?) He stood up and for about 7 mins he powerfully said that members of the church need to be more diligent in the faith. He went on to teach us what it means to be diligent. It was so powerful. It was the type of rebuking by the Spirit that Apostles do. He then went on to say that this is a church that loves one another, truly loves one another. He said that his favorite part about the church is that he has opportunities to help others where as in his Catholic church only nuns and priests help others. He bore a really, really powerful testimony. Geez I want him to be my missionary so I can just sit and learn from him. He is reading the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time right now. He finishes school in February and is planning on going back home to New York. I told him that if my family goes to the Sacred Grove in March that he will need to come with us. Oh yeah Chris will be giving a talk at Connee and Chuck's baptism!

On Saturday we went on exchanges. It was a lot of fun. We went with the Sisters that are in our ward. I liked doing that because I already know the area and the members and people that we would be meeting with for the day. It was pouring rain all day long!!!!! It was actually a lot of fun to tract in the rain ( I think it was fun because I have learned how to bundle up and wear my rain gear). When people would open the door they would tell us that we were so crazy to be out in the rain. I enjoyed it. We had a lot of miracles and we were able to give out 4 Book of Mormons. Being a missionary is so much fun.

The Visitors' Center is getting ready for the nativities. It is so weird that this will be my 2nd nativities exhibit. I am excited for Christmas. Christmas at the Visitors' Center is the best. Also we get to SKYPE on Christmas! YAY!

Halloween is coming quick. People don't disappoint in Ohio. They decorate for EVERY holiday. There are so many fun house displays. For Halloween we are going to go to Connee's house and carve pumpkins. President doesn't want us out that night so how perfect that Connee invited us over! She will no longer be marked as "an investigator with a baptismal date" but as "a recent convert."

Being a missionary is awesome. I am excited to come home and help the family become a missionary family. I love this church.

Sister Frampton

KIRKLAND ZONE

AMAZING WEEK (AKA BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE)

Ok I don't even know where to start... This week was the best ever! Oh yeah.. Thanks for all of the emails this week. That's so exciting that both Mickle and Alisha are now real missionaries out of the MTC. Congrats girls! Ok so this week I celebrated my one year mark. It was so weird. Thanks mom for the package. I love the note cards! Sister Ahrendsen took me out to eat for it and we celebrated. Connee, Cory and Chuck also came. They told the waitress that it was my birthday so they came and sang to me. Haha.

This weekend Elder M. Russel Ballard  , Elder Robert Gay  and Walter C. Selden came to Kirtland. It was amazing. This weekend marks the 10 year anniversary of Kirtland being dedicated. Friday night we had a very exclusive VIP party to celebrate. Both city and state government people came as well as local members that have a part at Kirtland. The day before they had some talk with us about making sure that we looked really good and that we were on our best behavior. Sister Gee and I took pictures of our "VIP party" outfits and they are on her computer so when I get those I will send them your way. The party was so much fun. They did a really nice job. We were allowed to wait in line to shake all of their hands. Elder Ballard said that he lived in Holladay and that he knows Grandpa Frampton. That was really cool. After the party we all went to the stake center for a program about Kirtland. Karl Anderson spoke at it. He is basically the most knowledge church historian. He wrote this book.  Elder Sorenson (the visitors' center director) also spoke. He had all the visitors' center sisters stand up and he said some really nice things about us. Elder Ballard them spoke. His great great great grandpa is Hyrum Smith. He talked about him for a minute but then he went on to talk for the rest of the meeting about Parley P. Prattt (my grandpa!!!!). It was really cool. The next morning there was a mile walk and breakfast scheduled at the visitors' center. He told us to choose someone that was here in Kirtland and use the time the next day to walk a mile in their shoes. It was so perfect because that day Grandma Schaar sent me papers about one of my favorite Kirtland Ancestors Harriet Wheeler Decker. I walked in honor of Harriet, Parley and Brigham Young. There was a HUGE turn out Saturday morning. We were really impressed. Saturday night was the adult session of Stake Conference. We got there 2 hours early and it was already packed. We had to sit on hard chairs. Chris (our recent convert) and Chuck (who is getting baptized Oct. 26) came. It was a really powerful meeting. Elder Selden really got mad at everyone. He is the area 70 and used to be the Kirtland Stake President. He said that the members need to repent and be better missionaries. It was so powerful. He gave the members ways that they can help us missionaries. He told everyone to go and buy THIS book. Now I am going to tell each of you to go and buy that book. Everyone out here has been talking about it and they love it. Get doing missionary work peeps!!!! Elder Ballard gave a really spiritual talk about the importance of recognizing spiritual promptings. The Spirit was really strong that night. Sunday morning was stake conference. we also go there 2 hours before it started and it was PACKED!!!!!!! You can always put your  money on an apostle. People will come to church when he is there. I just love the Kirtland Stake. I love that I know so many people in it. I feel really comfortable looking around and saying hi to tons of people. I feel like I am right at home. (For all of you new missionaries: Don't worry in a few short months you will feel right at home in your new stake.) Connee, Judd (her weird husband who lives in a different home) and Chuck all came. The meeting was so spiritual! I loved it!!!
Elder Ballard is amazing. He told everyone how amazing Kirtland is and to take advantage of it. At the end of the meeting he had everyone stand up and put their hand out. He air shook everyone's hand and then he said "Ok now go home and write in your journal that you shook my hand." Love him. Later that night we called Connee to see how she liked stake conference and this is how the conversation went.

Connee: Guess what I am doing right now? Going to the store to buy herbal tea so I won't drink coffee anymore.

Us: Connee that is awesome

Connee: Do you know that this means?

Us: That you are going to get baptized???

Connee: Well now I guess you know what it means.

Us: AHHHHHHHH *SCREAMS* 

Connee: The 26th is Chuck's day so he has to say it's ok that I join him.

Us: Put Chuck on the phone right now!!!!!!!

Us: Chuck and your mom get baptized on the same day as you?

Chuck: YES YES YES

Us: Put your mom back on the phone

Us: CONNEE YOU'RE GETTING BAPTIZED ON THE 26TH. CHUCK SAID IT WAS OK!!

Connee: Ok well I guess that is that. 

Like I said earlier You can always put your money on an apostle. The meeting was so spiritual that she was just blown away by it all. She was able to really receive her answer and truly have the desire to be baptized. We have been working with Connee for SOOOO long. I am so happy that she is finally getting baptized. Connee called Sister Palmer last night and told her the news. Sister Palmer is going to come back for the baptism. I am sooo happy!!!!!

Being a missionary is the best! I love it so much. Thanks for all of the support. I love you all!!

Sister Frampton

ONE YEAR

Hello everyone! Guess what?? This Thursday, October 10th, marks my one year mark. Can you believe that? I remember getting dropped off at the MTC and having no clue what I was even doing. Well It's a year later and I've learned a lot. I've had 2 baptisms. I can walk up to a random person and ask them to be baptized. I can explain the restoration and plan of salvation in 5 minutes. I've read the Book of Mormon twice, the Doctrine and Covenants, the New Testament and I'm half way through the Bible. I can give a tour of Kirtland all by myself and even answer all of the hard questions people ask. I can knock on a door without being scared and confidently talk to them. I've come a long way but I've still got a long way to go. I am excited for these next few months. I found out my exact date that I will be going home. It is March 12th. 5 months!

Sister Neslen went home last week. I actually cried. It was so sad. She has come to be one of my best friends. She was a huge part in helping me become the missionary that I am today. There is a huge hole in Kirtland without her. I am glad that I will be able to see her when I get home.

Transfers were last week. We thought for sure that Sister Esplin and I would stay together. She had only been there form 1 transfer. President always keeps someone in an area for at least 2 transfers. If anything I would be the one that would be getting transferred. Days leading up to it I felt really calm. I did not feel at all like I would be leaving. We were called on Monday night and we were shocked to hear that Sister E was getting transferred. Connee, Chuck and Cory took us out to Cheesecake Factory for a goodbye dinner. Thank you for paying for my dinner! My new companion is Sister Ahrendsen. She has been a good friend of mine so I was excited. She is 19 and really immature. President wrote me an email and explained that the reason that he put us as companions is because she really needs help maturing and buckling down and he knows that I will be able to help her and be a good influence on her. That was really nice of him to trust me. It has been a little bit hard this week. She likes to run around and play tricks on everyone. She is great but we aren't at Disneyland. I have a low tolerance level for 19 year olds. I love her and I am excited to be able to help her.

This week Chuck committed to be baptized Oct. 26th. Chuck has some type of special needs and is slower. He is 36 years old and lives at home and doesn't have a job. He spends his days playing with model trains. We aren't 100% sure that he is ready to  be baptized then. We are going to go over the baptismal questions with him tonight and see where he is at. We have taught all of the lessons to Connee so tonight we are going to tell her that she needs to think really hard about this and if she doesn't want it then we are going to hit the road. Sad but true.

Conference was really good this year. We were able to watch it in the huge theater at the Visitors' Center. Because we were scheduled to work at sites we were on deck if anyone came to take a tour. EEWWW we got called out for 2 tours. Both tours were members. I tried to talk them into watching conference and then going on a tour after but they said no. I was kinda rude on tour but it was rude of them to come in for a tour during conference. haha.

Life is good as a missionary. "Legalized sin is still sin." -Elder Nelson
Well I look forward to everyone sending me presents for my one year mark. haha! Thanks for all the support. I love you all. See you in 5 months!

Sister Frampton

Hey everyone!!! Thanks for the emails this week. No one emailed me their testimony that I could give to Connee soo..... ya. Epic fail. I loved seeing Mccall on TV. I screamed in the chapel when I saw her. It was so fun. I've been on LDS.org pausing the broadcast so I could get a better look. Go to More Holiness Give Me and pause it at 2:41. hahaha.

This week was good. Let me start off by saying that transfers are tomorrow. I am staying in Shaker Heights North . Kylie goes home tomorrow and I am soo sad!! I just love her so much and will miss her a lot.

Ok so last week we met with Carmella. I met with her a lot last transfer but this transfer she has been avoiding us. Last Tuesday we finally were able to meet with her and she started crying and said that she wants to get baptized and she wants it to be on November 23rd because her husband will be in India until then. We were shocked but it was awesome!!! Yippee.. Connee, Cory and Chuck are still pluggin along slowly. My recent convert Chris came teaching with us and he is AMAZING!!! He's been reading preach my gospel and he brought it to the lesson. He found an article onLDS.org that talks about how people can know if the Book of Mormon is true and he brought that for them. It was awesome. Chris's mom is really really strongly Catholic. He had a good talk with her and he told her that he wants to go on a mission and she said that she would support him if he did that. AMAZING!!!! Last night our ward had a fun fall activity. It was for all of the less actives, recent converts and investigators. We had a chili dinner at the visitors' center and then we went on a small hike up to a place on the Morley Farm where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared and where the first general conference was held. The senior missionaries taught everyone about general conference in prep for this weekend and it was so fun. The air was crispy and the leaves were all orange and red. Connee, Chuck and Carmella came. They loved it. I am so impressed with Connee. The senior missionaries were asking everyone questions like How often does the church have general conference?, where is it broadcasted from?, Who is the current prophet?.... Connee knew all of the answers. She is great. Hopefully she will have a baptismal date soon. She is sooo close. We finally got her to pray specifically about the Book of Mormon. That is huge.

I have been working with two people at the Visitors' Center. Remember Kent? He is amazing. He is still in rehab in Colorado. Meth is a really hard thing to overcome. He has been reading the Book of Mormon. We had a really spiritual lesson via chat a few days ago. I gave him 7 different chapters from the Book of Mormon to read and in a week we are going to discuss them all. He knows this church is true. I have also been calling a 27 year old named Andrew. He is from Wanship, Utah. My only reference to little towns in Utah revolve around three things 1. Bear Lake 2. Lake Powell and 3. St. George. I guess Wanship is on the way to Bear Lake. Andrew is a less active that is coming back to church. I've been working with him for the past 3 weeks. He committed to going to the priesthood session of General Conference. Way cool!

I feel like my emails home are boring and kinda same old same old. Sorry folks. Life as a missionary.

Things are really good here. I enjoy being a missionary. Guess what...???? In 9 days I will have been out on a mission for ONE WHOLE YEAR!!! October 10th. Feel free to send me celebration packages.

I love you all and miss you a lot. Come to Ohio Mccall!!!!!!!! This week please pray for Connee, Cory, Chuck, Carmella, Andrew and Kent!

xoxo

Sister Frampton

Did you know that I love Kirtland? It is such a cool part of my mission. I get to take people on tours and teach them all about Kirtland. In preparation for whoever is going to come pick me up in March (or if you aren't picking me up I still want you to do this) will you read D&C 84-98 & 101? Those sections were all received in the Newel K. Whitney Store. Those sections includ The Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, The Word of Wisdom, The Olive Leaf, Building the first temple. A bunch of really cool things happened here in Kirtland. It was the first headquarters of the church, the first first presidency was formed in Kirtland, the first quorum of the 12 was formed, the first quorum of the 70 was formed, the first patriarch was called, the first and second bishop were called, the first high council was organized, the first bishop's storehouse was organized, the first mtc was set up, the School of the Prophets was set up, the Pearl of Great Price was written, the Book of Abraham was translated, 1st edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was published, 2nd edition of the Book of Mormon was printed and the inspired translation of the Bible was written. Sorry I know I am just rambling but it is so cool. One last thing, yesterday I went 3 times to the room where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have appeared. I love Kirtland. Get out here and visit me :)

This week was good. We had 13 lessons. Wow that is a lot. Yippeee. We are still teaching Connee and her two sons. BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!! Connee's ex husband Judd came to church on Sunday. He is super super anti and he actually came to church. He said that he is going to come next week. I was shocked when he showed up. I actually screamed in the middle of Sunday School when he walked in. It was awesome. Connee knows that everything is true but she still will not get baptized. It is kinda annoying. I have an idea! I don't know who reads my emails of if anyone does or if they go straight to your trash can but will everyone that is reading this email me or mail me their testimony and a reason why Connee should be baptized? I will give these to Connee. She will LOVE it. Please will you do this? If you don't know my email address it is Lacee.Frampton@myldsmail.net and my address address is 7800 Kirtland Chardon Road Kirtland, OH 44094. I think this would be so great for her to have. 

We have been trying to find new people to teach this week. It has been kinda hard. No one wants to meet with us but we are trying. We ran into a JW and had a good chat with her. It was a waste of our time. The area I serve in is basically downtown Cleveland. I love how busy it is all the time. It is also heavily populated with Jewish people. It's kinda fun to see them walking around. Does anyone have any advice with converting Jews? #Jewdownthrowdown 

I really love the ward I am serving in. Everyone is successful. Case Western is in my ward boundaries so everyone goes there for dental or medical school. It's a fun environment. Whenever I have anything wrong with me I can just find someone in sacrament meeting and ask them about it with no charge. Seriously though. I would hate that. Well last Sunday I was able to have someone during Sacrament look at my acne for free. Sweet!!

Next week is transfers. CRAZY!!!!!!!!! Kylie goes home. I am going to be so sad! I love her so much. Most likely Sister Esplin and I are going to stay together in this area. It's getting really cold here. I am not excited for winter here. It gets sooo cold! BURRRR.

Ok well I hope everyone has a good week. Don't forget to send me your letter to Connee! I love you all and miss you like crazy. 

PS October 10th is my one year mark

Sister Frampton

Emergency Room

Cellulitis! So gross!!!!

Baptism

Stephanie Cushey August 17, 2013

Mccall in Norway

Baptism!

Chris Mikucki! September 14, 2013

Hello friends and family! Thank you so much for the emails this week. If you didn't email me this week that's ok because you have another chance to email me next weekLacee.Frampton@myldsmail.net. :)

This week was really great. First off we had a baptism. Refer to my email entitled The Story of Chris Mikucki. Chris is amazing. He bore a really strong testimony at his baptism. He said that once he started living the word of wisdom he was able to get clear answers as to whether he should be baptized or not. It was really cool. Yesterday he came to the visitors' center and we were able to find 12 of his ancestors and in a few weeks he is going to go to the temple and do baptisms for them. He is so excited about it. Stephanie (the girl I baptized last month) is doing great. She is living in China doing a study abroad. She is attending a branch and loves it. She said that she is really excited because she signed up to do visiting teaching. Amazing!!! 

We are still teaching Connee, Cory and Chuck. Cory and Chuck are not progressing so we decided to have separate lessons with them. The lessons weren't amazing but they weren't bad. Connee however is on fire. Randomly a few nights ago she called us and started bearing her testimony of Joseph Smith. WHAT??? She said that she knows as sure as she knows that Moses and Noah are prophets that Joseph Smith is a prophet. We were shocked. We had a lesson with her and we were reading from Our Search For Happiness (the best book ever) about the apostasy and the restoration and in the middle of it she yelled out "AHHH I get it it!!" This makes so much sense. It was so cool. Her son Cory was trying to argue Joseph Smith with us and she said "Cory you really need to read The teachings from the prophet Joseph Smith and you will understand Joseph Smith." It was amazing. Then in Sunday School the teacher asked if someone could stand up and explain the Restoration and she raised her hand and explained it perfectly. We were proud mamas! For some reason she still will not commit to baptism. It is annoying but it will happen in due time. She is such a great lady.

We aren't teaching anyone new. Finding people has been really hard lately. Hopefully it picks up this week. 

Thanks for everything that you all do. I love you all so much and miss you all like crazy! I only have 6 more months left until I will be home.

Sister Frampton

The story of Chris Mikucki Date: September 3, 2013 9:50:48 AM MDT

Thank you for all of the pictures and emails I got this week. Thanks Austin for the video. I am so excited to see your face at Christmas. Dall and Car- At least your being consistent in not emailing me back. As a missionary I really appreciate consistency so thanks you two.

September 14th we will be baptizing a 19 year old kid named Chris. Ok so about 2 months ago when I was serving in South Euclid my district fasted for someone to find a future bishop. That Sunday Chris walked into church. Chris was getting taught by the Elders in the ward and he was progressing fast. I even got the chance to give him a tour of Kirtland. I got transferred and didn't really hear anything else about Chris. Last month Chris randomly showed up at Stephanie's baptism. I was able to talk with him for a few minutes and I found out that he was no longer meeting with the Elders because he really didn't like them. He said that he had read the whole Book of Mormon and he didn't really understand it so he was re reading it again. He also said that he likes to come up to Kirtland and read the Book of Mormon.  Perfect! I work at Kirtland so why not have a Book of Mormon study together? He came up to Kirtland about 3 weeks ago and we had a really good Book of Mormon study. We asked him what he would do if he knew the Book of Mormon was true. He said that he really wants to live the Word of Wisdom. He said that he hasn't been taught about it but he remembers us talking about it on tour in the School of the Prophets. We took him up to the School of the Prophets and he went in there alone and said a prayer to help him start living the Word of Wisdom. When he a came out he was a little teary and said he had a really great experience in there. At this point he was having a really hard time figuring out if the Book of Mormon was true. Chris is a die hard Catholic. He really likes both religions and feels like he is having an internal battle with making a choice. He is out here for school so his parents have no idea he is thinking about getting baptized. I told him that if he lived the Word of Wisdom that Heavenly Father would answer if this is the true church. The day after he came to Kirtland we went to lunch with Stephanie. We invited Chris to come and Stephanie spent the whole time teaching him and telling him about her experience coming to know that this was the true church. It really helped Chris and I was so proud of my little Stephanie! Chris decided to start meeting with the senior couple that is over the singles' branch. Chris called us last week and told us that he received his answer and that he is going to get baptized. He said that he loves the Word of Wisdom. He also asked how long does he have to wait until he can go on a mission. Every night when he is reading the Book of Mormon he texts us favorite scriptures that he has come across. Chris came to the Visitors' Center yesterday and we studied the Book of Mormon. Then we showed him this really cool video about the temple and family history. He loved it. He has had two grandparents pass away and he loves the idea of getting baptized for them. We took him upstairs to the family history room and got him all set up on Familysearch.org and he loved it!!!! He told everyone that he met that he was getting baptized. He is so excited about it. He really is going to be a bishop one day. Ever since he was little he wanted to become a Catholic Priest or a leader of a church. How appropriate. There really are prepared people just waiting for the Gospel. I am glad that I have been able to be a part of Chris's conversion story. Lately I have been eating a lot of pickles because they are so good and yesterday he brought us a huge jar of pickles as a thank you present. haha

It is getting really cold here. I am so nervous for winter. I don't know why. Probably just because it is coming so early this year. Yikes.

Ok so Elder Ballard is coming in October. It will be the 10th year anniversary of the Visitors' Center. The sisters got an invite to a VIP party with Elder Ballard. The Visitors' Center director told us to look our best because Elder Ballard will be bringing "other" guests. He said that he doesn't want to tell us who because he wants it to be a surprise for us. Is the Prophet coming?????? When Kirtland was dedicated 10 years ago President Hinckley was here so it only makes sense that the Prophet comes. Good think you sent me some really cute blazers mom. I am going to need them for this party.

Sister Neslen goes home in 4 weeks. I am really going to miss her. She is hilarious.

I love you all and thanks for everything!

Sister Frampton #1