4-25-2011

Hola Mis Amigos,

   This week was a little difficult for Hermana Wilde and I.  There was actually a point where both of us were close to a little break down.  It is so hard to find good investigators that are ready for the message.  When we do we just shout for joy. Seeing them progress is the greatest feeling. Then one day you will go to teach them just to find out that they no longer want to hear the lessons. My heart just breaks when this happens. I look forward to the day when Satan will be bound, and won’t be able to enter the hearts of men.  Oh how glorious the work will be then. 

The work was hard for other reasons with week as well.  The weather was horrible. We experience El Viento Sonda, which are these really strong warm winds that come in from Chili. They are so strong that they break large branches off of trees (This is usually a sign that winter in right around the corner). Those that did talk to us weren´t interested because of Pasqua (Easter) and they were all planning on attending Pass Over. Well I hope that this week will be better.  I just have to keep telling myself that we don´t know all the Good that we are doing.  God is the only one that can see the entire picture. 

   Well, I will talk to all of you next week.  I hope you are doing well. Love you!

                                    Chou,

                                          Hermana Ricks

4-18-2011

Hello Everyone,

   I must say it has been a great week.  The work was a little slow because we had transfers (I luckily am with Hermana Wilde once again... YAY), and there were many things we needed to do in order to get everything running smoothly again.  Plus it is starting to get cold out so many people don´t want to take the time to hear our message.  I hope that it is not like this all winter, but if so I will continue to be happy and work my hardest.  Oscar is doing great! He is so amazing.  I wish all our investigators could be like him.  He is coming to church every week, and is very excited to pay his tithing and follow the other commandments.  He is even starting to save money so that he will be able to go to the temple in a year. My soul delights every time I see him.  We also have two other investigators Cristian and Yamina they have had all the lessons, and are good to get baptized they just need to get married.  The problem is that Yamina is wanting to have a big party, and they don´t have the money for that right now.  With the help of the ward we are trying to help them see that they can have a beautiful celebration in the church for free, and if they would like to do something bigger they can in a year when they go through the temple. We will see what happens there over the next couple of weeks.
   Also this week we started the Book of Mormon Challenge. It has been great so far.  It is so amazing to me that every time you read it different things pop out to you depending on what you are going through at that point of your life. You can have different personal revelations every time you read. This week something that I really liked was whenever it would talk about the promised land for Nephi and his family I would think that my promised land is the Celestial Kingdom, and if I keep the commandments I will receive that blessing.  The work is amazing. I love serving, and cannot believe that in no time at all it will yet again be time for another transfer.  I love you all and will talk to you next week.

              Chou,

                    Hermana Ricks

4-11-2011

Hello My Friends and Fam!

   I feel so blessed everyday to have the opportunity to serve a mission, and to help others understand and feel of the love of our Heavenly Father. How blessed we are to have this knowledge, and to know that he is very aware of everything that we experience and do.  It brings me comfort everyday to know that no matter what I will have at least one person to talk to and they will understand exactly how I am feeling.

   This week Hermana Wilde and I worked our tooshies off (I tried to think of a better way to describe it... but that phrase is just the best fit) It was the last week of our March Madness Competitions, and we wanted to come up on top.  We are both very tired, but we completed all of our goals, and exceeded others.  It feels so good to go home at the end of the day knowing that you did your best, and worked hard.

   I am very excited this week to start The Book of Mormon challenge. It is going to be hard, but I know that I can do it. We will all start of the 15th of April.... I actually will end off finishing The Book of Mormon tomorrow, and start it again on Friday and read it in same amount of time it took Joseph Smith to translate (66 days). SWEET!

   Well, that is about it.  I will talk to you all again soon.  LOVES!!!

                           Chou,

                               Hermana Ricks

4-4-2011

Hello Everyone!
  I hope you all had an amazing week.  I know I did.  Conference was a little different for me this year.  Instead of just chilling between sessions with my family we were all out running around to get more of our investigators to the later sessions.  It was incredibly hectic, but I loved every minute of it.  I am so grateful that I was able to listen to it is English.  All the messages were so Beautiful.  There were so many parts that touched my soul, and led me to ponder about my own life, but something that I found really amazing was said by Elder Holland.  I never realized that the speakers were not given a specific topic to speak on.  I find it special to know that everything that is said during conference is truly inspired by the spirit, and it is what the Lord wants us to hear at this time in our lives. David A Bednar talked about the Spirit of Revelation.  We are all entitled to Revelation in our lives.  We just need to have the righteous and worthy desires to receive it, and then show the Lord that we are willing prepare ourselves for those divine witnesses.  I hope that everyone went into Conference with some questions in their heart, and that through the spirit they were able to receive some peace and resolve to those questions.  I know that this is not a long entry this week, but I want to bear my testimony to all of you that I know Jesus Christ is the living son of our Father in Heaven. He has paid the price for our sins so that one day we will too be able to experience the joys of eternal glory with him and our families.  I know that the way is not easy, but as we let our trials strengthen our faith in our Savior we will make it valiantly through the Lords plan of Happiness, and hopefully help many others on the way. I love you all, and will talk to you next week.
                            Hermana Ricks