Bye, Bye Bowling Green!

Greetings!!

It sounds like you guys had a good week. Emily- I actually did have the thought "WHY DIDN'T I GET A LETTER FROM EMILY THIS WEEK!!!!" this week. Thanks a lot, ya little nugget. Just kidding, I'm excited to read your letter whenever it comes. Thanks for writin' me, cutie. Also, good luck with drivers ed. Just remember, the speed limits are usually optional unless there's a cop around. I learned that from mom. Love you and miss you so much. Mom- I'm so sorry you had to be released from your calling. You were the best YW's president this world has ever seen. I did not get your letter yet. I might get it today. I've heard mail is super weird here, so it takes a little time for me to receive things. Brock and Jacey are getting married?! I didn't even know they liked each other ;) Thanks for the freshest gossip. Love you so much, Mom. You're the best. Dad- Or should I say President. Good luck to you. Sounds like you're already having a party and a half. Mom's letting you run speed goat again, huh? Wow, if I remember right, she said "If you ever run this again, you won't be married to me." I think that was two times ago. You got yourself a cool wife. Thanks the funny emails every week, Dad. Love  you so much.

Well, folks, I think I'm going to do the quote thing again. It got a lot of good feedback. Apparently I'm a pretty big deal now, and I need to keep my fans happy. So... here's the top 7 quotes of the week: 

1.) "Do you guys have a calculator where we can split the price in half?" -The Grocery Store Cashier

Why, yes, cute cashier lady, I do have a calculator. A HANDY DANDY CALCULATOR WATCH ON MY WRIST!! Ha-ha-ha! Best purchase ever. She actually figured out the calculations in her head, but it was a pretty exciting moment for me.  

2.) "Have you guys ever heard of a mid-transfer?" -President Brown

Um...no, but I think I know what it means... So, here's some news: I'm being transferred this week. President Brown wants Elders and Sisters in each area, and we're going to be switching with elders on Wednesday. I will be in Bluffton, Ohio next time I email you guys. I don't know our address yet...or anything really. The only things I've heard is that we will be living in a small house with a washer and dryer (Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!) and that there are more cows in Bluffton than people. Holy cow.. Am I right, or am I right? I just can't seem to stay in one place for very long since I've left home. I guess there's people in Bluffton that need Sister Jenkins and I. I'm sad to leave Bowling Green, but I'm so excited for this new adventure. 

3.) "Jenkins and Reddish. You two are funny." -Rob

This quote might not seem very funny by just reading it, but you have to picture Rob, a fat guy, no teeth, and a nice big ole butt crack (we call it his coin slot), saying it. It's a little funnier, yeah? Man, I'm going to miss that cute man. 

4.) "Ohhhhhh, I wanna dance with somebody!!" -Whitney Houston 

Heavenly Father let me hear my favorite song on this whole planet play this week. I really needed that. It's been sad saying goodbye to everybody and stuff. So, thank you, Heavenly Father. And thank you, Whitney Houston. You are queen. 

5.) "Soo...do you guys know Mitt Romney?" -Random citizen of Bowling Green named Sarah 

Um, no, do you know Mitt Romney, Sarah? People literally think we know every Mormon in the whole world. You have no idea how many times I've heard "Oh, I know a Mormon, there name is ______. Do you know them?" Then you ask them where they live, and they some random state in the United States. Haha, people are the nuttiest. 

6.) "HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!" -Sister Jenkins and I all day on June 25th

I hope you guys realized that on Saturday it was 6 months until Christmas, therefore, it was Jesus' half birthday. Emily, you know what that means right? Bring out the Christmas music. You're welcome, Dad. 

7.) "Please bless that we can shine bright like the fireflies in the grass." -The man saying the closing prayer in sacrament meeting

Amen, my friend. Amen. Best prayer I've ever heard. I just love hearing people pray here. I'm positive Heavenly Father does too. The greatest people live in Ohio. I just love all of them. 

Big changes coming this week, but it's all good. President Brown knows what he's doing because Heavenly Father is telling him what to do. I'm going to miss the people we've been teaching and the Bowling Green Ward, but I'm grateful for the chance we have to teach the gospel to all new people. It'll be great. I'll hopefully be emailing you guys on Monday the 4th, but I'm not exactly positive yet. One thing that I am positive on is that I am going to email you guys sometime next week. I promise, Mom. 

I want you guys to know that I love this gospel. I loved it before, but I love it more now. We are so lucky to have it. 

Thanks for being the best family ever. I love all of you so much. TTYL. 

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

Sister Jenkins is basically my soulmate

Donnie and Peter

Sister Eddington, Stake President's wife

Sister Walbolt and her neighbor

Sister Walbolt

"Hey, can we pray with you?"

Hello!! 

Man, the emails this week had me laughing pretty hard. Trev Cat- Man oh man, you might be the new lady in the Reddish family. I want you to know that I don't give that title to just anybody. Congrats, lady. Amanda- I'm glad your surgery went well. And I'm glad you have your lady husband to help you out. Joking aside, you sure chose good when you chose Trevor. I love both of you tons and tons. Emily- EFY sounded like a party. I'm glad you got to go. Seriously, no cute boys? That's okay. Boys are dumb. Stay away from them.Love you and miss you, Fonto. Can't wait to hear more about EFY in your letter! Mom- thanks for the letter the other day. I loved the picture you put in the card. Dang, I looked good. Amanda had the best looking bridesmaids in all the land. JK! I'm so happy Sister Eddington sends you guys pictures; that was her in the picture with us. She's the best. Not as great as you though. I love you, Mom. Thanks for everything. Dad- I hope your Father's Day was the greatest. I was a little surprised to hear you didn't like being empty nesters, Mr. "We can't wait for all of you to leave the house". Don't worry, I'll live with you guys forever. I love you, Dad! Thanks for being you. 

I guess just a quick update, we have three investigators, one potential, and around 1000 less actives. One of our investigators is Elizabeth and she would be baptized, but she can't quit smoking. Yvette, another investigator, just had surgery and is unable to meet with us right now. Peter, is our other investigator, but I'm about 80% sure he's not accountable, so that keeps life interesting. We are hopefully gaining an investigator this week though. Her names Taylor. She doesn't smoke, she's healthy, and she's 100% accountable. I'm really praying this one works out. 

This week was hard, folks. Appointments kept falling through, and nobody wanted to listen to us. But in the midst of being hard, Heavenly Father has sure blessed us this week. Tuesday, we had the opportunity to teach with a girl from the YSA ward all day. Her names Rebecca, and I'm pretty positive she's the weirdest girl I've ever met. She just got home from Tate's mission, and she was SO excited to do missionary work. We were out tracting with her and she was like "Hey, could I have the next door?" We said yes and walked to the next house. She knocked and this middle aged man opened the door. Before he could say anything she started talking really loud and said "HEY, CAN WE PRAY WITH YOU?" What the heck, Rebecca. Well, believe it or not, he wasn't very interested. Awe well, at least he had the pleasure of meeting Rebecca. Seriously though, I really did enjoy every minute we spent with Rebecca.

On Saturday I was praying really hard for a busy day. And you know what's remarkable? Heavenly Father answered my prayers...Just not the way I was thinking. On Saturday, we went to a less active's house named Sister McCoy. She didn't want to hear anything about the church, but she DID let us clean her bathroom. Mom would have died. It was the grossest bathroom. BUT, the whole time I thanked Heavenly Father for letting us serve someone. Then after that appointment we went to another less active's house, and she let us teach her the Restoration.. It wasn't bad, but it could have been better if she wasn't blowing cigarette smoke in our faces the whole time. Yummy. BUT, we got to teach her. Then that night, we went and helped Sister Walbolt, an active member, garden. Emily, YOU would have died. There were thousands of spiders everywhere. And at least half of them were pregnant. It took every ounce of me to not start crying. I was so scared. BUT, from morning to night on Saturday, we stayed busy. That night I thanked Heavenly Father for everything we got to do that day, whether it was disgusting or great. He is so aware of us. I love that we get to talk to Him, and He answers our prayers. 

Well, I hope all of you have the best weeks ever. I'm almost positive I have the best family ever. Thanks for all the support. You guys are great. Everyday I am SO grateful I get to be with your guys forever. I love all of you more than I could ever say. Catch ya on the flip side!

Love, 

Sister Reddish

"Sister Raddish"

Greetings, famn damily- 

Man oh man, girls camp sounded like a success! Mom- Thank you, thank you, thank you for the package. Those Costco pretzel things are literally the best thing on this whole planet. Sister Jenkins and I complain about getting fat while happily eating them. So tasty. You are truly the best. Those girls at girls camp were so lucky to have you. Thanks for being the best mom that could ever exist. Dad- Oh my word, all of those stories were so good. I appreciated the update on Griffie. Whatta cute, queer dog. Am I right? Also, Dad, I won't be with you this Father's Day, but I want you to know that I know that I have the greatest dad on this whole planet. You're basically like my best friend, and I can't wait until we get to watch TV and eat Doritos together again. Emily- I was looking at the wedding picture Mom put in my journal, and I seriously could not get over how stunning you looked in that picture. You are so beautiful. Watch out for those boys at EFY, got it? In fact, don't talk to any of them. Not worth your time. Also, I'm happy that you survived that one awful night at girls camp. At least one good thing came out (that was a pun, unintentional) of that night, right? 

Well, folks, it has been a really good week. Bowling Green is growing on me. The people are so crazy, but I really do love all of them. This week in my journal, I wrote down my favorite quotes of the day, and I thought that I would share all 7 of my favorite quotes for this weeks email:

1.) "Raddishes are beautiful vegetables, and you have a very beautiful face. Both of those are God's creations. You really do have a beautiful face". This is a quote from one of our less active member's (Sister Noffsinger) boyfriend Barry. He said this after Sister Noffsinger told me our last name reminds her of a raddish. Barry has a tendency to be drunk ALL THE TIME, and he was indeed very drunk when he told me I was beautiful like a raddish. Thanks Barry,  I appreciate your drunk compliment. 

2.)  "No thank you, I am comfortable with my religion." I can't even tell you guys how often we hear this. Everyone here has a religion that they're comfortable with. I'm beginning to think the only thing their comfortable with is not ever going to church. They don't even know what they're missing out on. This gospel is the greatest thing ever. It makes me sad that people don't want to hear about it. 

3.) "He doesn't smile. The light around Him lets us know He's happy, or maybe even His beard slightly blowing in the wind will let us know how He's feeling". This quote is from an investigator named Chris when trying to explain what He thinks God is like. Chris is actually the other Sister's investigator (who live two doors down from us, Mom), but we went on exchanges with them on Wednesday. I have never wanted to laugh harder when he told us this description. Nice job, Chris. That sounds about 30% right. That 30% is obviously Heavenly Father's beard blows in the wind when He's happy. 

4.) "Thank you. I love you, hunny!" This quote is from Grandma Pat. I hope you guys get to meet her someday. She is seriously an angel on earth. I love her so much. 

5.) "Speaking of bowel movements..." This is a quote from Sister Jenkins. We were teaching a recent convert named Rob, and Rob told us during the lesson all about his irregular pooping schedule. Edit, edit, edit... Geesh Sarah.

6.) "I feel like I've met you before." This is a quote from a less active member, Serina. She is really awesome, but she says that she's made some bad decisions and that she doesn't think Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love her anymore. I told her that They do love her, like tons and tons, and I told her that there is nothing she could have done that would make Them ever not love her. She started crying and then looked at me a long time. She then told me she felt like she had met me before. I'm not saying, I'm just saying we might have been BFF's in the pre-earth life. I sure do love her tons. 

7.) "You wanna know how I got rid of my addiction? Soda pop." This is a quote from Rob. He said this in Sunday school when we were talking about the Word of Wisdom. This whole soda pop thing might be the reason he literally has no teeth in his mouth. Might be. 

Well, that's all I got for you today. I sure hope you guys have a great week. I pray for all of you every night, and I promise I can feel your prayers. This mission is honestly changing my life. I love reading the Book of Mormon. I love telling people about the Book of Mormon. I strive each day to become more like Jesus Christ, and I know Heavenly Father is helping me. Whatta life. What. A. Life. I love all you so, so much. 

Love,

Sister Reddish 

Pictures from Sarah's first day in the field!

Sarah at Kirtland first day in the field

                                               Sarah's first companion, Sister Jenkins

"Holy Toledo" Sarah's first mission from the field!

We were able to find out through a family friend that lives in Cleveland where Sarah's first area would be even before she did! This family friend also has a uncle who lives in Bowling Green and is Sarah's stake president! We also have another family friend who served his mission in Cleveland and was able to give us some of his old contacts from 20+ years ago right in Bowling Green! We were so excited to get this letter today, this letter shows Sarah's personality in every way.


Hello!!

It seems like I haven't talked to you guys in 10 years. Has it really been less than a week? Talking to you guys was so much fun! I just love all of you so much. It was a little rough beans getting into the missionary mind set once I hung up. A couple phone calls can do wonders to your heart, but I am so grateful that I got to talk to you guys. I have the best family in the whole world. 

Mom- wowzers, so many questions. To answer the most important ones: my address is 608 Conneaut Ave. #14, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402.  I will answer the other questions throughout the email. But, Mom, you are the greatest. I really can't even tell you how much I love and miss you. All the sisters here in Bowling Green told me I look like you. I told them you were way too pretty, but it made me happy when they told me that. Fonto- have the funnest time ever at girls camp! Don't have any more poptarts, okay? No one wants appendicitis during girls camp. You're such a cutie, Emily! I love you so much! You keep being the best Mexican you can be! Dad- I love reading your emails. Also, great job to you and the lady on the race. You're the best old, fat, bald guy I know. I hope you don't get caught up in too much drama this week. I love you, Dad. 

Well, I was pretty excited to tell you where I was serving, and then I find out that you guys probably know more about my area than I do. Yes, I am in Bowling Green, which is in the Toledo stake. People here are crazy, and I'm pretty sure I have more teeth in my mouth than the whole city combined, but the area is beautiful. My trainer's name is Sister Jenkins and she is awesome! She's from Ogden, Utah, and she is a really, really good missionary. Mom, do you remember when Sister Kunz said that one of the sister's apartments had bed bugs once... I'm in that apartment. I betcha Satan has bed bugs. But as of right now, our apartment is bed bug free.

As I said before, people here are crazy. The first thing my trainer told me was, "Just a quick warning, everyone in Ohio is weird". It didn't seem that way when she picked me up from the Kirtland temple (which was amazing btw), but when we drove into Bowling Green I began to see it. The weird thing is that I love being here. The people are nutty, but in the best way possible. We were tracting the other day and this guy was like "I once tried to be atheist, but then I couldn't because you can't celebrate any good holidays". Amen, my friend. There are so many blessings that come when you believe in God. Another guy asked me if "people in Idaho know what pulled pork is". Um... yes... The people we are teaching are pretty nutty too. I'm almost positive most of them suffer from mental disabilities, so that makes lessons interesting. I love teaching though.  

There are some really kind people here too. I've only met Sheri Eddington, but their family seems so kind. They also seem the most normal.. Probably because they're from Utah. There's an old woman here named Grandma Pat. She's everyone's grandma in Bowling Green. She reminds me so much of Grandma Reddish (she even says "Wal-Marts. No joke.). I love going to her house. It feels like home. The ward here is so kind too. Everyone in that ward would do anything for you. They are the definition of a ward family. 

Well, folks, sorry for the novel. I just had tons and tons to tell you guys. Mom, I hope I answered most of your questions. I want you guys to know that I love being on a mission. There hasn't been a single moment since I've been out here that I haven't felt Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father with me. This gospel has changed so many lives here in Ohio, and I am so grateful for the chance that I have to change more lives. I love you guys so much. I am SO blessed I get to be with all of you forever. Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

She made it to Ohio!!

We received this sweet letter from the mission home the day Sarah arrived in the field. It was a very comforting letter. We also found out through a dear family friend where Sarah's first area will be! She will be in Bowling Green ward near Toledo. This dear family friend also has a uncle who is Sarah's new stake president. He wrote a sweet message to us on Facebook and told us he would love her and take good care of her. Such a blessing!

May 31, 2016

IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Dear Missionary Parents,

This short letter is to let you know your precious missionary arrived at the Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport at 2:40 pm EST this afternoon.  All of the missionaries were met by President and Sister Brown and taken to the Mission Home for a warm welcome with a lovely dinner, interviews with President Brown and medical interviews with Sister Brown and Sister Harvey, our medical coordinator.

They will have a testimony meeting and then try to get a good night’s sleep to prepare for the amazing beginning of their mission field service the next morning.  After breakfast they will depart for Kirtland with a tour of the Kirtland Temple and a tour of the Kirtland Historic Site ending at the Newel K. Whitney Store….they will tell you about this experience!

There will be a picture taken with President and Sister Brown that you will receive within the next week or 10 days along with a letter giving you information regarding the first area and the first companion (Trainer Missionary).  If you have any concerns or any questions, please call the mission office at 440-777-0042.  Your missionary will be able to email you on Monday, Preparation Day, and give you the address to send letters or packages.

We promise to love these wonderful missionaries and take good care of them.  Thanks for preparing them and sharing them with us.

Sister Allred,

Ohio Cleveland Mission Secretary