Busy Week! 05/18/2015

Hello family!! What a week! There were lot's of fun things!

So last Monday, we were able to sing at the Christian Women's convention. It actually wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. And they fed us lunch! Hna Wallace and I sang, "Love at Home" together, and I accompanied a member that sang a song called, "Joy in the Journey." We also went bowling with the district! That was super fun, and I totally got a strike.

Tuesday was the hike with President and Sister Felix! We did a lot of activities that had to do with following the spirit. We had blind folds and took turns being led by our companion up the trail.

Wednesday I went on exchanges to Santa Maria with Hermana Costilla! I have always wanted to be companions with her. She is super cute! She was Hna Brown's trainer. She goes home this transfer, so it was right in time! So while on exchanges, we went to do service at this Catholic Charity place. We were standing behind the counter, and helping people sign in. The charity had a ton of bread that week, so they told us to tell everyone that came in to take as much bread as they wanted. So everything was going great, and then this white viega (old lady) came in, and was rather on the sassy/snarky side. We of course, said, "Good morning! How are you today?" She said in a super cheery/snarky voice, "OH I'm just GREAT!" And then we told her about the bread and she signed her name on the paper. Well, she didn't put her birthday which was suppose to be on there, so we asked her to put it. She was like, "WHY! Would you need that." Hna Costilla explained that we were just volunteers and they told us to have people put it. So she angrily wrote her birthday and slammed the pen down. We then told her she was welcome to take as much bread as she wanted, to which she responded, "Whatever." And then she grabbed her bag, grabbed her bread, turned around, and totally biffed it over this crate on the floor. Now, ladies and gentleman, I know that I should be more charitable, but I totally thought that was the funniest thing ever. Perfect timing really. Don't worry, I waited until after she left to laugh. The rest of exchanges were awesome too! We did a lot of street contacting, and then we went and got ice cream to celebrate!

Thursday we had an awesome District Meeting where our district leader ended by holding up a Book of Mormon, telling us it was our weapon, and the floor was our battle field. He then slammed it down on the table and said, "Move me." The testimonies following it were so powerful. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! I have felt the spirit tell me as I read it that it is. I have read it, and prayed about it, and there is no doubt in my mind that it is true. I invite you to give it a try as well if you do not already know for yourself! If you do already know, share it.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you!!!

<3 Hermana Ricks

Okay and the computer is being dumb and won't send any pictures..sorry. I'll try again next week!

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEENAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!

El Dia de las Madres!! Woot Woot 05/11/2015

Hello my wonderful family!!!!! It was SO FUN to talk to you yesterday!!! I think I told you just about everything yesterday, so I will try my best to think of something to tell you now. But no promises.

I did forget to tell you, this last week we were able to go help paint a water park!! There is a camp site near here called Lake Lopez, and deep inside of it is a little water park. A member of our ward is friends with this Australian guy that just bought it, and he is trying to re-open it on May 18th! The member has been wanting to introduce him to the church, so he thought that a good way to do that would be through service! I got blue paint all over my pants...but none on my Utah State shirt, or my volleyball shoes! Phew. Anyway, he was trying to figure out how to pay us, but the member friend told him we couldn't receive money. He then decided he would just give us water park passes. Hahaha. Can't do that either! People must think we're crazy. But we'll have to come back after my mission, cause it does look like a really fun little park!

Anyways, I was trying to think of a funny story at your request to tell more funny stories, but I really can't think of any. This week was weird. Not bad, but just weird. We met a lot of members. We are trying to gain the support of the english members for the spanish group, so we go around and share a lot of little messages with them - usually about the atonement. It's really fun! There are a lot of awesome people here.

Tomorrow we get to go on a hike with President and Sister Felix! That will be really fun! Speaking of hikes...I had Hna Brown and Hna Price send a box of stuff home including my chacos. Have you gotten it yet? I don't even know if they've had a chance to send it. But let me know when you get it! There's a bright orange hat with a bear on it for Keenan!

But...sorry this email is gonna be lame! I already told you everything yesterday! I'll close off with a spiritual thought. :)

This week I was studying the part in 3 Nephi where Christ comes to the Americas. I didn't necessarily learn anything new this time, but I did feel the spirit very strong. I know that Christ is living today, and I know He is the son of God. I know He died for me, and is our savior. I feel His grace helping me every single day. I could not do this without Him. He makes everything possible. I am so grateful for such a selfless brother who was willing to go through so much, so that I could have a chance at receiving eternal happiness. I know this is His true church, and I am so honored and humbled to be His servant. I love telling every single person I meet about this joyous message. It is such a humbling experience, and I continue to gain so much perspective of what really matters. I have grown so much more love for all of you, and I am so glad I get to be you with you crazy monkeys for eternity! Thank you for everything. I love you.

<3 Hermana Ricks

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!!! 05/04/15

"Hey, we should go to Jalisco's for Pico de Mayo!"

"You're so dumb, it's Cinco de Gallo...oh wait"

jajajaja I can't believe that was a year ago, and now here I am speaking spanish. If I were to hear ANYONE say "Pico de Mayo" or "Cinco de Gallo" now, I would think they were an idiot. Glad I'm not so dumb anymore. :)

Thank you SO MUCH! For my BUMP DAY package! I didn't even realize I was so old until I got that package! It's going so fast, and it's only getting faster...it needs to STAHP. 

So this area is AWESOME! We have spent a lot of our time this week trying to gain trust of the english ward members that speak spanish, so that they will have a desire to help us with the spanish group. We have been focusing a lot on them. We have made it a goal to call our dinner appointments two days in advance, ask them what they would like us to share a message about, and then we invite them to bring a less active family that they home or visit teach. We have seen so many miracles just in the last week of showing this little bit of added time and attention to our members. This week at sacrament meeting, we ended up having a few english members attend our group, and we also had all of our less actives attend, minus one. It was a true miracle that came from fasting, and from our efforts in strengthening the members! We have hope that this effort will result in many more miracles, and the members of our group will begin to reach out to others that need the gospel. A lot of this success is because of your inspired letter dad! Where you told me that it was when missionaries testified of Jesus Christ and helped you to strengthen your faith that you then wanted to be a part of this work. So thank you for sharing that with me! :) 

Hermana Wallace is such a good example to me! I love working with her. She is a wonderful companion and friend. We have a lot of unity in the work, and she's hilarious. 

It was also super fantastic to go to the beach this week!! SO PRETTY! 

So went to go visit a less active this week that we had never met before. We show up and he's up on a ladder taking apart his roof. When he found out that I was from Idaho he went off on how unhealthy french fries are and that I can't eat them anymore. I told him that I was going to anyways. :) He was super funny. And sassy.

Also, I do love this area a lot. But there are definitely some characters...this week we decided that our area is like a cake, and each member of our group completes the cake. You've got those members that are like the icing on the cake, but then there are some that are like the icing on the tinfoil that covers the cake... 

Anyways, happy Cinco De Mayo! Happy Mother's Day! (I AM SO EXCITED TO TALK TO YOU!!) And May the Fourth be with you. :D

<3 Hermana Ricks

Bye Bye Helote, Hello Lasagna! 04/27/15

Hello Family!! How are you all?

So it was really hard saying goodbye to Oxnard. I loved the people there so much. 

So really quick, I forgot to tell you that Mexicans can't say my name very easily. One day, we were teaching Isidro, and someone else walked by and tried to say my name. He told them, "Como una galleta (It's like a cookie) - Ritz!" 

Haha anyways, I went on Monday night to say goodbye to Isidro and I just cried the whole time. Hermana Brown talked for me and told him that was we would never forget him. He told us that he would never forget us either because we were his teachers! He turned to me and said, "Y usted es mi galleta!" :) 

Arroyo Grande is SO different from Oxnard! We are over three ward's boundaries, and we work with the spanish speaking people. There are 6 members of our unit, and all of them are less active. We are going to focus this transfer on helping them a lot. We have some really awesome investigators! There is so much potential here and I love it so much. The first couple days I was really worried that it wouldn't be as grand as Oxnard, but I was so wrong! It is a lot different, but I love it just as much. 

We eat dinner mainly with the english members, so bye bye Helote. :( But it's okay, Lasagna is really good too! :) The members are so supportive and love the missionaries! I actually just met a family that has a son on a mission in Minnesota... They checked with their son today to see if he knows Graham, and it turns out, their son was Graham's zone leader last transfer! Crazy!!! (They are the ones that sent the picture of Hna Wallace and me.) 

Hermana Wallace is so cute! She is from Gilbert Arizona and has been out for a year. She is super tiny holy cow. She reminds me of a mixture of a bunch of my friends, so she is really fun to work with! 

We live right by the ocean, and we actually got special permission to go to a ward bonfire on the beach tonight, so that will be really fun!! Ill try to take lots of pictures. This will probably be the only time I step foot on the beach until I come back to visit.

I love you all! I know Christ's atonement can work miracles through all of us, and if we let him help us, our weaknesses will become our strengths. Have a great week! :) 

Trystan LOVES Mexican food and will miss it dearly while she is serving in Arroyo Grande!

Surprise, Surprise! 04/20/15

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy week.

 

First off, I am being transferred. :( I'm SO SAD! I love the Nard so much!! I don't want to leave, but I'm sure I'll end up liking the next area eventually...

 

I am going to Aroyo Grande! My companion will be Hermana Wallace. My address is going to be:

 

1385 Atlantic City #102

Grover Beach, CA 93433

 

Next: DAVID ARCHULETTA CAME TO OUR MISSION YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!

So we found out about a week and a half ago that we were going to have an all mission meeting on April 19th at the Ventura Stake Center. No one knew why or who it was for. We were all worried they were going to change the mission boundaries or something because it happened right before transfers. But we got a call on Saturday asking us to leave our cameras at our apartments and to come straight in the then leave. Everyone then thought it was going to be President Uchtdorf, because apparently he was in LA, but it ended up being David!! And he brought Brooke White with him as well! SO COOL! He told some amazing stories and sang a bunch and then each zone got to take a picture with him afterwards, which I'm sure is on the mission blog now. And then we shook his hand. :) He looked at each of our name tags and said hello! My 12 year old self was so excited.

 

THEN right after we take our zone picture with David, I hear, "Hermana Ricks!" I turn around and it's NATE FIELDING! Woohoo!! Emily's older brother! It was just about too much excitement for me to handle in one night. He is in the Stake Young Men's Presidency and said that they had had a meeting that night, and then he came to hear David and thought, "hey, I bet Trystan is here." Yup! I sure was! :) He was awesome! 

 

Anyways, this week was a great way to end the transfer and my time in the 'Nard. I am super excited to meet my new companion, but so sad to leave hermana Brown! She has been so much fun and such a good example to me. BUT! Her new companion is going to be HERMANA PRICE!!!! I am leaving her notes everywhere that say things like, "This is where I used to brush my teeth" and "This is where I used to get food." :) Hopefully she thinks I'm as funny as I do.

 

Love you all!! Have a great week!

 

<3 Hermana Ricks

 

P.S. Here is a picture of me eating a hotdog last week in honor of the grand opening of DAWGS! I'm sure the one I had wasn't as good as if you had made it, dad, but it was the best I could come up with! LOVE YA!

 

 

 

Last week of the transfer..say whuuut. ??? 04/13/15

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!!! ( AND MOM AND AUNT STACEY LAST WEEK!!!!!!!) I hope you all had/will have amazing birthdays full of lots of cake and ice cream! (P.S. We went to a birthday party the other day where they shoved the girls face in the cake and then asked us if we wanted a piece. Ummm...I did before you got face all over it, but thanks anyways. I'm glad we don't have that tradition. :))

 

Okay first thing's first. Story time seriously kills me. We either need to start coming at a different time, buy earplugs, or go sing with them and THEN email.

 

I'm so glad you all got to talk to Hno Nunez!! He is the best. He is so cool. He helps us missionaries a lot! There are 3 sets of missionaries in the ward and he takes care of all of us. He has a super cute family, and is like a big kid!

 

So I realized that I totally forgot to tell you all about the TEMPLE last week! It was SO AMAZING! It is so different going through as a missionary! The LA temple is a lot like the Idaho Falls temple, but it's even bigger and it's so pretty. The ward mission leader and his wife took us. I can't even get over how cute they are. They took us to Jack in the Box afterwards as well. They are some of the sweetest people I have met here, I want you all to meet them! We also went to the distribution center afterwards and it was like Christmas morning! I don't think I've been so excited to shop somewhere in a long time. Talk about #nerdymissionaryprobs.

 

Isidro came into church yesterday and he looked like a new person. It is incredible seeing the difference the gift of the Holy Ghost makes, just even in the apprearance of a person! It's like he stands taller, and he is more confident now. Ahh I love it!

 

Speaking of that, the other day Hna Brown and I were walking down the street to a dinner appointment and a man stops us on the street and started talking to us in Spanish. When I responded back in spanish he was really surprised and was like, "You speak spanish?!" Anyways, he told us that he could tell there was something different about us so he had to stop and say hi, even though he was in a hurry. We gave him a pass-along card and now he's basically going to get baptized. Just kidding, it wasn't in our area so we don't even get to teach him, but one day, it's gonna happen! It was awesome. 

 

I can't believe it's the last week of the transfer already! What the heck?! I'll let you all know next week if I'm staying or not!

 

I love you all! Thanks for being the best family ever! Everyone, go chase down this man with a hotdog stand called DAWGS and eat some lunch. Love you all! :)

 

<3 Hermana Ricks 

HAPPY EASTER! HAPPY CONFERENCE! HAPPY BAPTISM! HAPPY EXCHANGES!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

This week was AWESOME!!

 

1. I went on exchanges in VENTURA! With Hermana Bennion. Hermana Huey is now her companion, so Hna Huey got to work with Hna Brown again in Oxnard and EVERYONE was so excited to see her! Ventura was SO pretty! It's only like 15 minutes away from Oxnard, but it's so different! We didn't teach a lot of people because everyone kept cancelling, but I learned a ton from Hna Bennion, she's so great. And we got to eat at California Pizza Kitchen! Emily's brother is the head manager there. Unfortunately, it was his day off. But I told Max, our waiter to tell him hi! And I also told Max that I would tell Emily to tell Nate that he's an awesome server! So shout out to Emily. Max is great! A super nice LDS family saw us eating there and paid for our dinner! It confused Max a lot when he realized we didn't know the family previously though. Haha :)

 

2. Conference was AWESOMEEEEEEEE!!!! I don't know if it was just different than normal this year because I'm a missionary, or because it was just different. But I loved it! I thought it was really interesting how much they focused on the Plan of Salvation and fortifying families. Hna Brown and I thought they were going to call the next speaker and it was going to be Jesus Christ himself! We wouldn't have been surpirsed. They talked a lot about the Second coming. If I could summarize the most important message that I got out of Conference, it would be to not waste time! We need to share this message with people, and prepare ourselves for the great day of the Lord!

 

Also regarding conference, I testify that Thomas S Monson is a prophet of God. I know he is, and I will tell anyone that. I know this is His church, and Jesus Christ himself is the head of it. I don't believe God would send us down here and except us to live without guidance of how to return back to him. He loves us too much for that. That is why he gives us the blessing of a prophet! Because we need someone that is humble enough to lead us and tell us what God wants us to know. I know that Thomas S. Monson is that man right now, and I am so grateful for his example!

 

*Random Fact* Story time has started in the Library again. Oh boy.

 

3. Isidro! Our investigator Isidro was baptized last Friday!!! It was such a good baptism! The first time his hand didn't go under the water and he hadn't plugged his nose, so he stood back up really panicked. They re-did it, and the second time he stood back up and you could see on his face how much peace he felt. I could see in his face the forgiveness of the Atonement! It was so cool. I hope I never forget that! He then received the Holy Ghost yesterday between sessions at the church. He's so awesome!

 

Also, for Easter none of us had a dinner, so we all made our own creations and ate together! It was THE BEST! Seriously. I made Deviled (?) Eggs and smoothies! I'll try to send a picture of it!

 

Well, I want to know what you all thought of conference! I love you all!! Have a great week!

 

<3 Hermana Ricks