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