Transfer News! 07/13/2015

First thing's first! I AM STAYING IN MORRO BAY WITH HERMANA YOUNG!!!!!! First time I have been with a companion for more than 6 weeks! I am super excited. It's a good thing we really like each other! I did however have to put my foot down on one thing...

Hermana Young LOVES hugs and she hugs me just about every time she walks passed me...well, Hermana Ricks isn't a very touchy person and Hermana Young knows this due to the fact that the hugs are usually not reciprocated. The fact that Hermana Ricks is not a touchy person was talked about at the beginning of the transfer, but Hermana Young informed Hermana Ricks that she didn't need to hug back, she could just hug Hermana Ricks and wouldn't fell bad if it wasn't responded to. Well, once upon a time it was too much to handle so Hermana Ricks had to put a regulation on the hugging business...only one hug a day for Hermana Young. Hermana Ricks explained to Hermana Young that "you can't just hand out hugs like pretzels!" To which Hermana Young responded, "I don't even like Pretzels!" And Hermana Ricks responded, "Well I don't like hugs!" A few days later when they got the transfer news that we were both staying, Hermana Young did a dance and sang "6 more weeks of my huuuuuugs!!" Oh boy...     

But I am so happy to be staying in Morro Bay with Hna Young! The Elders are both staying too! We all have so many plans for the ward, and we are so excited to be able to implement them together. 

We had a great experience with our investigator Daniel singing with us and the Elders! Elder Pace is very straightforward, and ended up being able to get him to pray at the end of one of our practice which was something he wouldn't do for us before. The ward was very welcoming and gracious to him after we sang, and the spirit was so strong during the song (it almost even made me tear up, but not quite). 

We went to teach the ninos this week! (Alejandra and Luis.) When we got to the park, only Luis was there and he said, "I am just so happy whenever I see you because I know that you are going to teach me about God." and then he wrote his own version of "I Am a Child f God." He sang, 

"I am a child of God and God loves us so much.

 I want to kiss and hug him with all of my heart! 

Lead me guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.

 Teach me all that I must do to live with Him someday!"

SO CUTE!!!! We love them. They are going to decorate our next planners!!! 

That's all for this week! I love you all! 

<3 Hermana Ricks 

Music is the Best! 07/06/2015

Good morning friends and family! And happy 4th!  I hope you had a fun and safe holiday! 

So. Last P-Day we had a tire changing competition with the zone for our zone activity. Guess who won! Hna Young and I. I mean, only two other Elders participated (Because really, who wants to learn how to change tires on pday...bad idea ZLs) But it's okay! Because we were good sports about it, and we won gummy bears. And we found that one of our bolts was completely missing...so now we have to take the car in to get a new bolt. 

We were going to go to a parade in Cayucos, but our district leader told us right before we went to bed on the 3rd that he had a bad feeling about us going. I don't know what would have happened, but Heavenly Father is looking out for us! So we didn't go to that. :) We did get to spend the day at a birthday party for our investigator, Alejandra (One of the two that sang "I Am a Child of God" last week). We made her a birthday cake and got to hang out with them in the park all afternoon! It was super fun. 

So you know how we have our pet spider Silvestre? Well, on the night of the 4th, the people that own the house were there to watch the fireworks, so we tried to show them how cool it is when we catch moths and throw them into his web. But First, Hna Young was struggle bus-ing and could not catch a moth. And then we she finally did it went through the web, and then she caught another one and it stuck, and Silvestre just sat there! Like he was all stage shy our something. Then after the visitors went inside, he finally went and attacked the moth. Hna Young told him, "Man Silvestre, you made me look like a fool!" 

Then Alejandra and Luis then came to church again on Sunday, and they shared their testimonies this week! Their parents want to come as well. They were going to come this week, but the mom got called in to work. The kids love church so much! They are always so excited to come and learn. Their cousin Omar isn't too fond of us because they always leave him to come listen to our lessons (Omar is invited too of course, but he doesn't like it as much). So when we came earlier this week Omar said, "No let's go skate!" And Luis said, "No! We like church more than PLAYING!" hahahaha so funny. But! When we got to Alejandra's birthday party, Luis started singing "I Am a Child of God," and then Omar and their little brother Angel (Who is like 2 and can barely talk) all started singing it as well. The whole family knows the song because they sing in non-stop! WOOHOO! 10 points for Hna Young y Hna Ricks. 

We are able to use music a lot to teach them. We have been able to teach them, "I Am A Child of God" along with the Plan of Salvation, "Scripture Power" with the commandments, and "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." We teach them how to play the Ukulele as well, and Alejandra wants us to teach her how to play the piano.

 We also have another investigator named Daniel that is really interested in music. He is not a member because his mom was inactive for like 20 years all while he was growing up. So he doesn't know anything about the church, but his mom is an active member now. He is in choir in high school, and so we asked him if he would sing with us in church! We are singing with him and Elder Peterson (District Leader) and Elder Pace this next sunday. We are so excited! We are going to sing the EFY medley. We practiced together last week and we felt the spirit so strongly. It is so amazing to see how we can use our talents to bring people to Christ! 

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

<3 Hermana Ricks

Happy FOURH OF JULY! 06/29/2015

Hello Family!!!! Happy Fourth of JULY!!!! I will miss being with you at the parade! We are allowed to be with members during the festivities, so we are going to stay with the Launchbaugh family. Their backyard is the ocean, and 30,000 people line it on the 4th! We are excited. :) Thank you so much for the Fourth of July package as well!!! Hna Young and I loved our t-shirts, and we decorated the apartment! We are going to wear the shirts on the 4th. :) 

Okay I spent the whole time writing President this week, so I'll just copy what I told him...

Morro Bay is doing great as well. We have two kids we are teaching, Alejandra and Luis, and they came to church yesterday! They had so much fun! They sang, "I Am a Child of God" for everyone in sacrament meeting. We taught them that song a few weeks ago, and they sing it constantly! Everyone was really good to them at church, so they had a really good experience. We are trying to get their parents to be more interested. We keep telling them that the message is for families, but they haven't wanted to come to church themselves yet. Hopefully soon! 

Also, I went on exchanges with Hermana Killpack this last week! She is from Firth and she's SO CUTE! We saw so many miracles! We had a list of new move-ins that the ward council had given us. There were about 15 people on the list, and so we decided to look at the list and pick some people to visit. One of the names stood out to Hermana Killpack, but the city he lived in was really far away from everywhere else we were working that day. We decided to go anyways, not even knowing if he would be there. When we pulled up to the house, we saw a car backing out of the drive-way and so we hurried and ran up to the car. The lady said, "Can I help you?" We asked if a William Sheppard lived there and she said, "Oh no, I don't know him." We asked if they had just moved in and she said, "No, we've lived here for 3 years." So we went back to our car, and she left to go wherever she was going. We looked at the paper again to double check the address, and sure enough! It was right. Hermana Killpack again was very prompted that we needed to go knock on the door. So we did, and a man answered the door. We asked if a William Sheppard lived there and he said, "yeah..." and so we asked if it was him and he said, "...yeah... you must be mormon's cause you have the tags. ." We asked him if he was a member of the church and tried to shake his hand and he stood there stiff and just said, "That's what they tell me. But I try very hard to make sure they don't know where I am." We found out that he had lived there for three years, but the ward had just barely received his records because it was on the new move-in list! We started talking to him about random things, and found out he had served in the Navy. When we asked what he did in the Navy he harshly responded, "Killed people." The spirit again guided Hermana Killpack, and she began to cry and explained how her grandpa had served in the Navy, and she thanked him for the service he had given to the country. This softned his heart (not enough to WANT to talk to us, but enough to actually converse with us.) We later found that he has two granddaughters on missions for the church in south america. He doesn't know where, and he doesn't talk to them, but he found out from their dad that they are on missions. We also talked about his job (he makes vitamins, and he warned us that taking Biotin will make our hair fall out rather than help it to grow..good thing! Hna Killpack and I have both been taking it!) When he mentioned that someone sent us there to find him, Hna Killpack was able to explain how we were actually guided there. That his name was the only one she could see out of 15 other names on the paper, and that we knew we needed to see him that day. Towards the end we asked if there was anything we could do for him. He responded, "I would say leave, but I felt bad the last time I said that." Right after his wife pulled back into the drive way and he said, "However, that's my wife and she hates Mormons, so you better leave right now because she has really mean dogs." He then lifted up his hand to shake ours. We were able to tell him that we didn't know why he was so bitter against the church, but we promised him that the church would still bless his life if he would choose to come back. His wife then chirped in, "If you ever step foot on this property again, we will call the cops!" (Ooooo scary.)

 Later when I explained everything that happened to the ward council, they looked on his record and saw that he had been ordained a 70 at one point in his life. It reminded me of zone conference and how important it is to save these inactive members who have made covenants with the Lord, and who did know at one point in their lives of the truthfulness of this message. It also reminded me of Hna Newland, and how much she wants her family to re-activate in the church. I know those granddaughters of William Sheppard have probably been praying really hard that the missionaries might be able to go and find him! And I'm sure that's why we were guided there that day. And that he needed to meet Hna. Killpack! 

I don't know what will end up happening with him. And as it turns out, he actually lives in the Elder's area (which I did not know because I am still getting to know the area!) But I know that we were walking side by side with Jesus Christ that day, and I know that Heavenly Father cares about each one of his children enough to set up something like that for any one of them. That was one of the biggest miracles I have seen on my mission so far. I wish I had more time to write out all of the little miracles that led up to that one, and explain exactly how much we could see the hand of God guiding us that day! But I was able to witness God taking the time away from the 99 to look for the 1 lost sheep. 

I love you all! Have a great week and a happy fourth!! Be safe and don't drink, it's not smart. :) 

<3 Hermana Ricks!

Zone Conference! 06/22/2015

Okay I only have a few minutes left... sorry if this email is short!!

This week was crazy! I was sick for a few days, and so we had to stay in. I had a head cold and it gave me an ear infection and everything. But all is well!  We have still had some great experiences!  We have a cute family we are teaching. The kids are always excited to see us! We are teaching them the Ukulele and how to sing I Am a Child of God. (I may have already told you this last week, I can't remembers. I may have sent the picture too, but just in case I didn't ...there is a picture of Luis! :)) We teach them in the park, because they are always there skateboarding. But this week, the dad started showing more interest, and even made us lunch. He invited us to come back next week to have a picnic again. We taught them the restoration, and the dad has a lot of questions. He is very humble, and allows us to teach him and his children. We are encouraging him to pray to know if it is true, and we are still trying to get them all to come to church. They were suppose to come yesterday, but didn't end up being able to. 

Hermana Young is doing great, and she is taking good care of her sick little companion! She makes me soup, and she is always asking me what I need. 

Our District leader, Elder Phillips, got sick and had to go home last monday. It was really sad! He was a really good elder. 

The new elder is an english elder, and he told me I have vampire teeth. It reminded me of the time the elder in the MTC told me I had a red nose when I was sick...

Oh man. My testimony grew in so many ways this week! First off, I received a Priesthood blessing from my district leader! (the Priesthood is the power and authority of God, to act in His name. In our church, worthy males can hold this power and authority, and one of the things they do with it is give blessings to little sick people like me!) Holy cow, I am so in awe of the Priesthood, and I have such a strong testimony of it that I don't even know how to describe it in words! But I am so grateful for it, and for the knowledge and testimony I have of it. I know this church is true because of the power of the Priesthood. 

We had a zone conference as well with Elder C Scott Grow! It was amazing! I will have to write more about it next week. But I loved it! 

Also! On our way home from zone conference, we had to stop and get gas in Arroyo Grande, and there was a worker there that came up the the sisters we had rode with, and told them that he could see a light in all of us. They started talking to him and we all found out he had a copy of the Book of Mormon that he had been reading. He could speak English, but was from Mexico so understood spanish much better. So we started talking to him in spanish, and I realized that he lived right down the road from Maria Santos (the one that was baptized in the wheel chair!) So I pulled out my camera and showed him pictures from her baptism, and he said that he knew them very well and was friends with them! So we were able to tell him that there was a reason we ran into him that day, and we invited him to take the discussions. He said the missionaries could call him, so hopefully he is now investigating! 

<3 Hermana Ricks 

The Tale of Two Missionaries and Their Pet Spider 06/15/15

Morro Bay is great! We are finding lots of people to teach, and the members are starting to give us a lot of referrals. I am still trying to meet everyone and get used to the area, but so far everything is going really well! We have seen a lot of miracles and some people even just come up to us. We have been blessed! There was one family that stopped the Elders in the middle of the street and asked them where the church was. They told the Elders that they had been taking the discussions in Mexico and just moved here. So we went to go find them, and the lady they live with has a ton of potential as well! We haven't actually even found them yet because they are always working, but we are excited to find them this week.

Hermana Young is really fun to work with! We had a wonderful bonding experience this last week with our new pet, Silvestre. Don't worry, he is not our pet by choice. He is this huge hairy spider that comes back every night and sets up a trap to catch dinner right outside our front door. We called the Elders and asked if they could kill him, and they said they would the next day. (I'm normally not such a baby but this is a HUGE SPIDER PEOPLE!) SO we woke up the next day and he was GONE! We were so mad. And then there were spider webs everywhere..Hna. Young said, "AH! He made such a mess!" Then, that night he came back and set up his web again. We ended up seeing this moth fly straight into it, and Silvestre pounced on it, and it was the COOLEST THING EVER! So we decided that we needed to see it again and record it. So we got our cameras, and caught some moths, shook them up to knock their direction off, and threw them into the web. If I can figure out how, I will send you our video because we are hilarious geniuses.

We were also able to teach these two little kids, Alejandra and Luis, how to play the Ukulele at a park...so fun. We also taught them the song, "I Am a Child of God." When we went back later in the week and Luis (who is 6) was playing basketball with these 3 shirtless college guys. He was super excited to see us, so he ran over and was ready to learn more about the Ukulele. He said, "Look I remember the song!" And he started singing "I am a child of God..." and then he decided he wanted to sing it for his basketball buddies, so Hna. Young and I ended up singing to all of them in the middle of the park with Luis...hahaha :) 

Anyways, this week was awesome! My testimony is growing every single day of how true this gospel is! Nothing else could ever bring me so close to my savior. I am so grateful for the understanding I have of Him, and for the relationship I have with him. All I want is for it to grow even stronger. I love my brother, Jesus Christ, so much! I am so grateful to kneel down every night and thank my Father in Heaven for His Son. 

I know this is true! If you are lacking in happiness or hope, turn to Jesus Christ. He is the only one that understands you, and he is the only one that can help you. 

I love you all! 

<3 Hermana Ricks

Prepare to be Jealous 06/08/2015

HELLO EVERYONE!!

Oh man. Prepare to be jealous. So here in Morro Bay, the Hermana's apartment is right on the ocean. We are a little ways away, but we are out in the country, and nothing blocks the view of the ocean. We can see the Morro Rock perfectly, and we can hear the ocean clearly. It is also right next to a national park. so we are in the mountains (well, "mountains" compared to Idaho...") with lots of trees and horse trails as well. The apartment we live in is the basement of vacation home of some people that aren't members of the church. They have a tree orchard with grapefruits, oranges, cherries, tangerine thingies, apples, and lemons, and we are free to eat them! Everywhere we go is basically right around the bay, and it is SO PRETTY! I'm convinced it is the prettiest place I will ever live. The only problem with it was the beds...super uncomfortable. But luckily for Hermana Ricks, they closed down her last apartment that is only like 20 minutes away, so she called and asked if they could bring those beds to the Morro Bay apartment and they said yes! So come Wednesday, I will be sleeping in Paradise. 

 

So basically, I am loving Morro Bay! Besides the fact that is the most beautiful place I will ever live, the people are amazing. The ward is very supportive, and they seem to be very involved in missionary work! A lot of the youth bring friends to church, and many members come up to us and tell us their missionary experiences. I am excited to be able to use the members in this area to further the work! We were already able to have a lot of member present lessons, and our district leader, Elder Phillips, is having us all do power hours (an hour where the members come out with us and their family stays and prays/reads scriptures for an hour) at least once a week. So I am expecting to see lots of miracles!

Hermana Young is awesome! We got along right away. She is the first companion I have known before I was companions with her, so it wasn't as hard to adjust! She was Hermana Huey's back-up trainer, and I had talked to her a lot because she is really friendly. We have been using music a lot in our teaching as well. I am really excited to work with her. She is very observant and does a lot of little things to serve me, like filling up my water bottle and sticking it in the fridge while I'm in the shower. I need to be better about doing that for my companions! 

So you won't believe what I'm about to tell you, but I am going to tell you anyways. This week, I tried Fish and Chips for the first time in my life, and I wasn't even forced to. So there was a restaurant right on Morro Bay called Giovani's that had their 30th year anniversary last Wednesday, and they were giving out free fish and chips. I figured after that time in Oxnard that I was fed a bowl full of muscles, crab, shrimp, and oysters, and after all the other times I have been fed sea food so far, that I could try it. So there you have it. I guess I'm not as picky of an eater anymore... But I still wouldn't try the bag of crickets Hna. Young had in the car...that'll take me a few more months. 

Also last Thursday, we went to a member's house for dinner. They are the seminary teachers here, and they were throwing an end of the year party that they invited us to! It was so fun. They had sent the students on a scavenger hunt around town where they had to do things like take a picture with a biker, and give out a pass-along card. Seminary is the best! Hermana Young and I decided we should do missionary work like that...just tell everyone that we are on a scavenger hunt and we have to take a picture of us giving them a passalong card. haha! Anyways, the family lives right on the beach and their house is so pretty! They also said I could come back and stay at their house when I come back to visit, so I will keep that one in mind. 

Anyways, I love you all! I am excited for this transfer! 

<3 Hermana Ricks

Welcome to an emotional roller coaster! 06/01/2015

Oh maaaaaan what a week!

So first things first...

MARIA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! Talk about biggest miracle I have ever witnessed in my life, preceded by lots of other miracles. Heavenly Father really must be in charge of this work, or that never would have happened! Thank you for all of your prayers for her, because holy cow. Best baptism ever. 

So how it all went down: We ended up using the bishop from Arroyo Grande 1st Pool! (He basically lives in a castle.) We sat her in a plastic wheelchair and then we got two missionaries, and two members of the ward to all dress up in white and baptize her! We had a member give a talk on Baptism and the Holy Ghost, and then Hermana Wallace and I sang. Shout out to mom! You know that song book you bought me before I left that had the CD accompaniment in it? We used that sense there wasn't a piano, and bishop had a sound system outside! We sang, "I Stand All Amazed" in a mixture of spanish and english. THEN MARIA WAS BAPTIZED!!! Her family didn't come, but her caretaker did! He is awesome. He wore basketball shorts incase he needed to jump in the pool and save her, but  he wore these super high socks and was like, "I wanted to cover up my tattoos to look nice for her baptism." aww. so sweet. And then after she was baptized, he jumped up out of his chair and yelled, "WOOHOO!!!" And started clapping, and then everyone else started clapping too cause it was just the most awesome baptism ever. Seriously, I wish I could have recorded it! 

On Sunday, Maria received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and afterwards she said, "I feel whole now." I love her so much. She calls us, "Hermana Rick and Hermana Wallet." :)

Sad part: I am being transferred. :( I totally got gypped! Only 6 weeks here. I am so sad. They are going to bring in a trio of spanish Elders to cover the english and spanish work, because there just isn't a lot of spanish work here. I know two of the Elders that are coming though, and they are awesome! Downfall: We have to have our apartment cleaned out because no other missionaries are moving in...and there was a TON OF STUFF. We're talkin 9 boxes of supplies and a whole car load to Goodwill. Oh and to top it off, Sister Felix called Saturday night and asked Hna Wallace and I to sing at transfer meeting. Great...

So funny story: Yesterday we were working on cleaning things out, and the zone leaders came over to get our 9 boxes of supplies. Well, right before they came, Hermana Wallace had thrown out this old broccoli and cauliflower...IT STUNK SO BAD. So the zone leaders came, knocked on the door, and the they went back to get there car and pull it up closer. While they were doing that, I ran and grabbed this perfume that had been in my closet for who knows how long. I have no idea who's it was. But it was like fermented or something. So now it smelt even worse. Luckily, the elders couldn't come inside - only to the porch where all the boxes were. Well, we were helping them take it to the car like 20 feet away, and I realized you could smell in all the way over by their car. So I figured, well, we better explain ourselves. So I told the elders what had happened. Elder Young said, "Oh man. I was wondering what that was. I thought it was like maybe a bush or something, but I wasn't sure. I'm really glad you explained yourself Hermanas, because I've corrected Elders on their apartments before but I just really wasn't sure how to correct you. Cause that was bad..." hahahahaha how embarrassing. Oh well. We ended up opening all the windows and doors and faced a fan outwards. We texted them 20 minutes later to report that it now smelled fantastic in our apartment and they said, "Well it couldn't have gotten any worse. That's for sure..." 

 Anyways, I don't have my next address yet, but I know I am going to Morro Bay with Hermana Young! She back-up trained Hermana Huey, and she also served in Oxnard at one point, so it'll be fun.

And the saddest news: I just found out the Hermana Price went home. She had been really sick and had gone to the ER a couple of times. I am glad she was able to serve with Hermana Brown through all of that, because I know she was well taken care of! But I am so sad that she had to go home. We had made a plan to be companions again! Hopefully she will be able to come back out.