Que Suenas Con Las Papayacitas! 01/25/2016

I got to go on exchanges to Lompoc last week!! I wish there were still Hna'a in Morro Bay and Arroyo Grande so I could go back to those areas as well! Unfortunately, they have changed the boundaries in Lompoc since I was there, so I didn't get to see any old investigators. But I did get to see Hermana Rosalez, the Nigrete (branch president and wife), the Grants (Relief Society President) and the Trujillos!! We had to stop by the church for something so I saw a bunch of people. :) It is so weird going back to old areas because it doesn't even feel like you ever left... But it was really fun! I got to work with Hermana Arkell, she is still in training but is such a sweet missionary! Haha it was raining ALL DAY. Hermana Arkell had rain boots, so she kept walkin through all of the puddles.

Despite my efforts to walk around the puddles,  I got soaked and was wet the entire day. I had already been a little sick, and so by the end of the day I had a sore throat and was just not feelin my best. I ended up sleeping for a while the next day and when I woke up I thought to myself, "Man. All I want right now is Chicken Noodle Soup!" Serioulsy, I can't even explain how strongly I just wanted a bowl of soup. Well, we ended up having to run something to the church, and then hermana Hurley tells me that Tiffany Rigby had called while I was sleeping and said that she had made some soup and rolls for us to come pick up. She didn't even know I was sick! She just must know how to follow the spirit. It was SUCH an incredible tender mercy to me. If I was any more emotional I might have cried... But I was extremely grateful. All night I just kept going on and on about how loving Heavenly Father is - enough to provide a grumpy sick missionary with some soup from her long distance cousin. Milagros. :)

On a more funny note, we went to go visit a referral that our relief society president had given us. It was dark outside, and we were trying to find this lady's apartment. There was a man (only legally dressed in Hna Hurley's words) standing on the balcony of the apartment above. So like any missionary would, we said hello. Actually we said "hola" because we are spanish missionaries. And he didn't say anything. So we kept looking for the apartment and the same man walked to the other end of the balcony over top of us again. So we said, "Hola, Buenos noches!" And he still didn't answer and then he yells, 

"Como se llama?!"(What is your name?) Hermana Hurley answered and he said, "NO - ELLA!" (No - her! *pointing to me*) I answered and he said, "Estas casada?" (Are you married?) I tried to explain that we were missionaries and he just kept asking me over and over for my name and if I was married. Then this other guy who was sailing pans door to door yelled to him, "Estan trabajando!" (They are working!) And he saved the day. The creepy half naked man left and we got to talk to Omar and give him a card! When we left he said, "Be careful - there are lots of creepy drunk guys around at this time!" hahah what a nice guy. Way to be a gentleman, Omar! As we walked away hermana hurley said,"Well, at least he has to decency to ask if you're married!" haha true. 

On Wednesday we had the worldwide missionary training! Oh man it was so good. It has been a while since they have done one of those, and holy cow. We have seen such a huge difference in missionary work just by applying some of the simple things they taught us like, "always keep the name of the Savior on your lips." Sometimes we get so caught up in talking about the importance of the family or that we have prophets to lead and guide us today that we forget to share our testimony that Christ is our Savior! I think we also forget it alot when we are talking to these awesome faithful hispanic catholic families who do all of the testifying for us! We just agree with what they say, but forget to add our own personal witness specifically of Jesus Christ, our Savior. But we have been doing much better now! :)

Then! The other night I get in bed and Hermana Hurley says to me, "Buenos noches, Hermana. Te quiero. Que suenes con las papayacitas!" (Goodnight hermana, I love you. That you sleep with little papayas... Okay I don't even know how to explain the translation of that one. Ask dad. it's just a thing you can say, excpet typically you say, "que suenes con los angelitos" like little angels...) anyways. I hate papaya. So I told her that was rude and she's like, "no Hermana, there is a papaya in your bed. And I was like, "No there's not." And she was like, "Just look!" And I wouldn't. She tried for 10 minutes to get me to look for this papaya and I kept telling her to leave me alone. She was like bouncy up and down on all fours on her bed, and then she runs out of the room, comes back and says, "did you look?" And I said no. And so she comes and jumps over my bed and pulls out this HUGE papaya that she had placed under my pillow! hahaha what a weirdo! It was so hilarious. I'm sure glad I didn't sleep on that thing! It would have stunk up my whole bed! 

Anyways, it has been a good week! The work here in Santa Maria is CRAZY! We have seen a lot of miracles and we are working so hard. I can't believe how fast everything is going. Every transfer gets faster and faster! But I am so grateful to have the wonderful privilege of being a servant of Jesus Christ. It is a big responsibility to represent him and his gospel, but I am learning so much! I love the Savior, I know that he is the way and the only way to gain happiness! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

<3 Hermana Trystan Ricks

LOOK WHO CAME TO THE CHURCH DURING EMAILS!!! Hermana Brown!! Well.. Aryanna Brown these days... :)

ELOTE!!!!! And Mango con limon y chile!

hna Rosales

We had to have a sleepover in Lompoc because there was too  much fog for the other Hnas to drive back that night to Santa Maria! Smores over the stove.

OXNARNIA!!!!!!! 01/18/2016

Oh man. What a great week! Last tuesday we had Mission Leadership Counsel where they dropped the biggest news ever! No more transfer meeting. Apparently it's not something that the church authorizes, but many missions do it. So they came out and informed all of the mission presidents that it shouldn't be happening, and now it's not going to anymore! 

On saturday I got to go on exchanges to.... OXNARNIA!!!!!!! Oh man was it so great! I got to go with Hermana Pirir AND in my old area! Unfortunatly, Isidro who was baptized when I was there had just moved like 2 weeks ago, but I did get to see some other people. Meaghan Salas came out with us. She is a youth that would always go with us to teach people and I just adore her. 

We went to teach an investigator, Mireya, who the missionaries dropped a while ago (which means they stopped teaching her because she wasn't progressing). She was SO excited to see me! She said, "No one comes to visit me anymore!" She then said that she was just thinking about me last week and that her cousin's son joined our church and just left on a mission to Africa and that her cousin is starting to come to our church! How amazing!! The timing of Heavenly Father never ceases to amaze me. The hermanas are going to go back and teach her now! Maybe she will be ready this time. :) Either way, she made me promise that I would bring my family to meet her. She really wants to meet Keenan - she has a handicapped son and she gives pinatas to children with special needs. I actually saw that while I was there - a man that had ordered one for his handicapped daughter tried to pay her and you should have seen the battle of two stubborn hispanics! But of course, Mireya won and the man walked away crying from her generosity. Ah! I just love her. Anyway, long story short, she wants to meet Keenan. :) 

We also had a lesson that the Deleon's came with us to! Hno. Deleon is the ward mission leader in Oxnard. They are the ones that took Hna Brown and I to the temple. He didn't realize when I was there, and he got so excited when he saw me that he jumped backwards and did this cute little dance so that he wouldn't hug me. hahaha I love them too! I want to go back and serve in Oxnard so badly! 

But we are also doing well here in Santa Maria. I don't think I have ever been confronted with such a great problem of missionary work before, but we are finding it hard to have time to teach everyone that we need to! There are SO MANY investigators here that are making progress and could be baptized. One of them is named Rosario, and he is one of the most solid investigators I have ever taught. He studies the homework we give him so thoroughly, and he always comes with questions. He lets us know if he needs to change the appointment, he lets us know if he thinks something we told him was fishy...he is completely honest and genuinely and humbling searching for the truth.

We have another investigator, Marta, who is progressing really well as well! When the Hermanas starting teaching her, she would not read, had a really hard time understanding anything that they would read with her, and couldn't remember a lot. About two weeks ago when we taught her, she was only in 1 Nephi 4. We went back last week, and she was in 1 Nephi 18!!! She LOVES the Book of Mormon! She told us all of the stories that she had read about and explained how it applied to her own life. It is amazing how much the spirit can help people understand. And then yesterday she finally came to church! She loved everything except for the fact that the member who was sitting by her trying to fellowship her was eating a snack during sacrament meeting...she even turned to the member and told her that it was not an appropriate time for that. hahahaha awkward. 

but anyways, it's been a good week! I know this is Heavenly Father's work and I am so grateful to be a part of it! I looove my mission! 

And I loooove all of you too! Have a great week! 

<3 Hermana Trystan Ricks

Someone is crushin on my companion... 01/11/2016

Santa Maria is so awesome! I love the fact that there are just people every where we go to talk to. We have a lot of people to work with! We are trying to figure out how to balance our finding, set appointments, less-actives, and members. 

I have gained a testimony this week of the Book of Mormon. I have felt the spirit so strongly as I read it. In english I am marking every time the name of the Savior is mentioned, and in spanish I am working on a goal we have as a mission to mark the gospel of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end.) The goal is for everyone to read the BOM marking these topics before the next zone conference in March. 

So we had a really cool experience with service this week. We were at Catholic Charities, and the people there LOVE the missionaries! When we were about to leave, one of the workers started giving us lots of fatherly advice about staying safe and everything, and he started telling us stories about times that he has received guidance and answers from Heavenly Father. At the end he said, "Man, when this world gets even more wicked, I am going to have to turn to people like you. I can't even say that about most of the people in my own church! Now I've talked a lot. Next time maybe I'll let you talk a little more." It was such a miracle! The spirit was so strong as he spoke to us and testified to us of the reality and love and plan that Heavenly Father has for us, and it was so amazing to see that he could see a special light in us. 

We also had exchanges this last week with the Hermanas in Santa Barbara. I went with Hermana Wright! She is from Texas and she is in her third transfer. Her spanish was AMAZING and she is such a hard working missionary! We had lots of fun. When Hermana Hurley and I came back from exchanges though, the door was slightly open and we could see a hint of a light...it totally freaked us out. We called our District Leader and said, "Okay. We are going to just talk to you on the phone for a few minutes. If it goes dead or you hear anything - call the cops." We then walked in and soon realized that the light was just coming from the Christmas tree that no one has taken down yet. We then went through the whole apartment, checking every crevice and closets, and once we found that no one was there we realized we were just crazy. hahah I don't think I've ever been so paranoid before.. but Santa Maria! You never can be too careful...

Also! hahah at church yesterday we were walking out to our car after it got over, and we saw this man sitting in his car. We started talking to him and he said, "I have a question. My mother passed away a few months ago. Where is she?" We ended up talking to him for quite a while, giving him a Book of Mormon, and setting a return appointment! It was such a miracle! .... But now... he won't quite calling us. He definitely has a crush on Hermana Hurley... hahahaha we are gonna have to let the Elders take care of this one! 

ALSO at church! I ran into Tiffany Rigby! I knew she was a Hart the second I saw her. :) She was so cute! She had made us cinnamon rolls and invited us to come to dinner. So fun! If President Felix approves then we will go eat with them.

 

 

 

weekly planning under the table because you just gotta switch it up like that sometimes.

ALSO! Feliz Dia de los tres Reyes! look up what this is... 

 

Hermana Sassy is my name! 01/04/2016

Well, transfer meeting last week was the saddest one of my mission! Both of my trainers left me, and Hna Jeronimo! I love them all so much. I might be biased, but I think it was also the best transfer meeting (the missionaries going home share their testimonies and their's are so powerful!)

As hard as it was to leave Ventura, I love Santa Maria already! As soon as I got here I knew that it was right. I mean, I still wish I had gotten more time in Ventura, but I definitely wouldn't trade it for coming here. That seems to happen every time I get transferred. The Lord always has a plan for us!

One awesome thing about this area, is that I have actually met a lot of people before, because I have been on three exchanges to this area, and we had a lot of association with this branch when I served in Arroyo Grande. So I already know some of the members and investigators. One less active family that we started teaching when I was in AG is now coming to the branch here! Yesterday, the dad got up and bore his testimony. If you remember, he is the really sassy man that we taught the word sassy to 8 months ago that always told me that I shouldn't eat french fries. Well, when I saw him he remembered me and said, "Hermana Sassy! I went to Idaho and looked for your dad's hotdog cart, but I didn't find it!" We then set up an appointment with him and I told him when we came I wanted to eat some french fries for dinner. He just looked at me and said, "still? ay ay ay." hahahaha :) 

Hermana Hurley is my companion, and she is so awesome. She is from Minnesota (shout out to Graham!) and she comes from a family of...PROFESSIONAL CLOWNS! Guess what that means dad! I will become a much better animal balloon artist this transfer. :)  But seriously, she is so hilarious. She is always cracking me up! oh haha and her family sent her this work out CD that they made...funniest thing ever. 

Anyway, this week I actually got a pretty crazy cold...I think everyone in California did. It ended up giving me an ear infection and now I am dizzy all the time! But that's okay. It's getting better slowly... 

We had a cool experience this week with our investigators - la familia Jimenez. They have been investigating for a long time and we talked to them about how the spirit works, and then asked them to close the lesson and say a prayer to ask if our message was true. We told them that we would sit there for a few minutes afterwards to think about it. After a few minutes, we all sat back up on the couch, and the dad, who offered the prayer, said, "I felt nervous!" We asked when and he said right after he finished the prayer! He continued to explain that it was like an energy in his heart that he could feel all of a sudden! We asked the mom how she felt and she said, "I felt so happy I just wanted to smile and laugh so hard!" And the son said, "I felt like my dad and like hot - like I was going to start sweating!" What a miracle. Every single one of them felt a manifestation of the reality and truthfulness of this message in their own unique way! 

That is something that I have gained a testimony of this week - the reality of the Love that God has for us. It is amazing how much he leads us in our own personal way. Hna Hurley and I were talking about it and it's like when there are two best friends that have an inside joke that helps create a stronger bond in the relationship. Heavenly Father is always dropping us little subtle hints that later answer bigger questions that allow us to know he loves us and is there for us. And my favorite part is when you can look back and see the hand of the Lord in your life! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and a wonderful year! Love you all!

<3 Hermana Trystan Ricks

and this is my new companion. :)

And a Happy New Year!! 12/28/2015

This week has been so crazy! Saddest thing first: I am being transferred. :( I am so sad... I couldn't believe it when they called us..I just got here!! And I love this area. It is one of my favorite areas that I have ever served in. But I know I will love my next one just as much! I am going to Santa Maria with Hermana Hurley! There will now only be 4 Sister Training Leaders in the whole mission, so that is why they had to move me I think. Because they shut down the other STL area, and Hna Griffes has already been companions with Hna. Hurley, and Hna. Cueves has already served twice in Santa Maria. I'm sure there are other reasons too...the Lord always has a plan for us even if we can't see the big picture like he can! My new address will be

220 E. Grant St. #95

Santa Maria, CA 93454

Other than that news, this last week was great! :) 

Shout out to Shay's birthday on the 22nd - I hope it was great! :) 

On the 23rd we helped Pedro's family make Tamales! They turned out pretty good for us being white girls...we are professional tamal makers now. I will have to make you all some when I get back! 

Christmas eve we were able to spend some time at the mission home with a bunch of other missionaries. Pres. and Sis Felix had family come visit, and their grand kids performed the nativity for us! It was super cute. We also went caroling as a district on both Christmas Eve and Christmas. 

Christmas eve, Hna. Griffes and I pulled our matresses out to the living room and we read Luke 2 (and the cute little book you sent us mom!) and sang silent night and slept in front of the Christmas tree in our new fuzzy pajamas. :)  

CHRISTMAS I got to talk to you all and it was so good! but holy cow was that the fastest phone call or what?! I don't even know what we talked about. We also went and "Angel attacked" the Mission Home. We cut out a bunch of little angels and had all of the missionaries in Ventura write on them how President and Sister Felix had been angels to us. Then we had dinner with Maria and Salvador. (Maria was baptized the transfer before I came, and Salvador is going to be baptized right after I leave!) They were so fun. The power went out in the middle of the dinner, so Maria went and grabbed her oil lamp and said, "Oh now we will have a romantic dinner!") haha. :) 

Thank you everyone, for all of the cards and presents you sent! Christmas was so fun! It was so fun to be a missionary at Christmas. It is a little bit better than every other time of the year because everyone automatically is thinking about Christ. They are so much more open to us sharing a message about Christ and his birth! It was awesome to be able to focus so much on the true meaning of Christmas, and be able to share that with others. With the new year coming, try to make every day like Christmas. To remember HIM every day and the purpose of why we are here. 

Also, our ward mission leader bought the elders these super fancy ties and told us that what he bought for us hadn't come yet. We went over to their house yesterday, and he had ordered us these super cute new bags! He is the best. Seriously, I will miss the Hernandez family so much! They told me I could come back and live with them after my mission. :)

Like I said earlier, I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us, and that everything that happens - every trial we go through, every test we are given, every happy moment, it is all out of God's love for us. Christ was born so that he could come to save us. From the beginning, God's purpose is to bring about the salvation and eternal life of man. Sometimes we are given trials and times of testing to bring about the same thing - because God has a bigger plan for us. To bring us home to him. In everything that happens, try to ask God what lesson he is trying to teach you, because there is always a reason.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe it's already going to be 2016... 

<3 Hermana Trystan Ricks

last elf on the shelf!

angel attack!

our candle lit Christmas dinner! :)

Ask dad what it means...

just kidding...THIS was the last elf on the shelf attack. :)

makin tamales

We're Famous!!!!!!! 12/21/2015

Okay I am running a little short on time this week, and there is so much to say!! Good thing I get to call you this week, right?! :)

So first thing's first. HERMANA GRIFFES AND I ARE FAMOUS!! We have no idea how...but we were at the branch christmas party, and then a member came up to us and showed us a picture on facebook of us together next to our christmas lights that say, "He Is Born." I don't know how the LDS missionaries page got it...but it was pretty exciting! Then sunday in ward council everyone asked us if we knew about it and they were all so excited. Dad informed me today that we have around 3000 likes...no biggie ;) hahaha 

So last week was crazy! On wednesday we got to go to the temple finally for my birthday! We went with the Hernandez family whose son is our ward mission leader. It was so amazing! The spirit is so strong in the temple. I miss being able to go there as often as I want! But it makes going there a little more special. We also got to meet the Hermana that first taught Pedro in the visitor's center (the man that got baptized at the beginning of the transfer.) She was really excited. 

Then thursday we had zone conference and holy cow I think it was all just for me! I got so much out of it. I learned that God really is our loving Heavenly Father, and he desires for us to have a relationship with him and to seek his help in things. President and Sister Felix did so much for us, and it was just so cool and fun! And then they gave us all gift bags that included a Book of Mormon, and they challenged us to read it by the next zone conference in march, and to mark everything it says about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end.) I have been doing it and it is a really cool way to read the BOM! 

So two funny quotes from this last week:

On our way to the temple Martin (the ward mission leader) was talking to his mom about calls home from his mission and he said, "You always cried what I called home, huh?" And she said "Yes. And when you didn't call." hahahaha I thought of you mom! :) 

And then we were teaching Pedro and he is just the best. He said the closing prayer, and he always prays for the people that are sick or without food and he said, "bendice los ninos que no tienen comido - dales un taco senor. (Bless the kids that don't have food - just give them a taco, Lord)." hahahaha how cute. :) We love Pedro! 

Well, I am SO EXCITED to call you on Christmas!! I love you all, and I'll talk to you in a few days!!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!

<3 Hermana Trystan Ricks 

the elves got me back....

ZOOM! 12/14/2015

Wheeere to even start. This week was weird!

It started off last monday when we had to cut our p-day short because we are going to go to the temple this week! It was worth it, because we are super excited to go to the temple (we are going on wednesday!), but we basically forgot how to be missionaries as we tried to proselyte on monday!

Tuesday we were sent on a wild goose chase around Ventura trying to look for service. We had some planned with this random man we had met who was going to let us paint his fence, but then he wasn't there. We were in pants so we tried to look everywhere. We basically ended up driving for like an hour from one end of the city to another. We tried Catholic Charities, and it had a sign that said, "Closed Dec. 8th" and then we tired every member we could think of.

Wednesday was cool! We had exchanges, and it was really interesting because when we went to switch companions, the hermana that I was going to go with was being rather grumpy and rude... I could tell she hated exchanges and didn't really know how to handle it. But it was so cool to see how the spirit guided me to help this hermana, and by the end of the exchange we had seen SO many miracles, and we both ended up having a really good experience and enjoying the day together! (I think it helped that I was able to sympathize with her because I never was very fond of exchanges either - it just throws off your groove!)

Then friday we went to do service at a nursing home. We always go as a district to sing to them and the last room we went to the guy was so loony! He would yell random words at us. We asked what his name was and he spilled out this super long name that ended with P! H! D!...UC!... LA. He had gotten his phd in conducting... so of course he started conducting us as we sang and screamed at us telling us to sing slower and screamed at us when we sang well... and then at the end he asked where we were from and so we told him we were from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! He said, "OH the MORMONS!!!" Well, we don't agree with you, but we'll accept you. ZOOM! *waving his hand to tell us to leave*" hahahaha I couldn't even sing I was laughing so hard!!

Saturday we had another exchange! Weird random things kept happening to us all day as well, but it was such a good exchange! I went with Hermana Peterson. She came out with Hermana Donnelly! I have learned so much from going on exchanges with these hermanas. I think one of the biggest things is how much heavenly father is apart of this work. Right down to who he inspires us to go with, where we go, and what to share with them during companionship study or exchange review. I know that he is a part of each one of our lives, and has such a perfect plan for each of us.

One example of that is our ward mission leader. His grandma passed away this last week and it has been really hard for their family. He told us that he was asked to be the ward mission leader almost 5 months ago, and he didn't understand why they were taking so long until this happened. He said he now knows that it is because he needed this calling now to help him. There family is so amazing! All four of us missionaries ate dinner at their house last night, and we were able to help clean the kitchen a little, and sing hymns to them. It was such a simple thing, but it was able to bless them so much. I love being a missionary and being able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. He uses others to answer prayers. Be the answer to someone's prayer this week! When things are hard, turn outwards and help someone else. That is the true character of Christ.

I love you all!! I am so excited to talk to you next week!! :)

P.S. mom, the elves you sent us have been attacking Hna Griffes every single time she showers!!!!! They are pretty funny, I gotta say. I'll send pictures.

They decided to do something nice on Sunday in order to honor the sabbath