M&M

Hello Family, 

Because so many things this week begin with the letter "M", I thought I would fill up my e-mail with M&M's. (By the way, do you know how much I love pretzel M&M's? I really miss them. They don't have them here. AND they call their M&M's “Smarties,” which just doesn't make any sense. Anyway...) 

M-oves: I am staying in East Kilbride and training a new missionary! I am so chuffed. I love East Kilbride and have missed it while I've been in Irvine. I am also humbled and grateful for the opportunity to be a trainer. When Elder McArthy, the Assistant, talked to me after, he said, "Being a trainer is the most important calling in the mission. You have more influence there than at any other place." I am very intimidated but very excited and ready to train! It will be so much fun. I've started praying for my new trainee, as she will be getting off a bus on Wednesday morning and we will hike Pratt's hill together and then have a day of meetings before we find out who the other one is. There are five sisters and one elder coming in this moves, so it will be nice to keep it small. How lovely! 

M-argaret: It was her baptism this weekend and it was lovely! It was a bit funny though, because her recent-convert son, Jon, baptized her. I guess she didn't know that she was supposed to plug her nose, and he dunked her really hard, so she came up choking hard core on the water. She was okay though, and now that she's confirmed she's the newest member of the ward! She is lovely and it was so fun to be right on the side of the font watching her get baptized. She was pretty nervous but she did wonderfully. I was also able to play the interlude between her baptism and the closing remarks while she changed. That was fun. 

M-ichael: He is getting baptized on Tuesday! Can you believe that? Two baptisms while I've been here! Who knows if I'll get anymore, so I am savoring these! He is incredible. He showed up an hour early for Margaret's baptism to get ready; he took his Book of Mormon to read for 45 minutes on the train; he is just doing so well! He also gave us Christmas cards yesterday because he knows we're not going to see him at Christmas. He is amazing and is the most prepared investigator ever! The day of his baptism will be a month from the time they met him and we began teaching him. How amazing is that? 

M-Manok: Moves Anticipation Night of Kebabs. It's a mission tradition to eat a kebabs on the Saturday night before moves, and so we got Kebabs and ate them. Then it smelled like kebabs in our flat so we had to open all the windows and freeze to death. That's when we made our moves predictions, and we were basically spot on with them! So that's pretty great. 

M-Mission Mum: I got to hang out with Sister Nicoll this week! Because the STL had to go into Edinburgh for a mission leadership conference, I went to Kilmarnock (in our district here) and spent the day with Sister Nicoll and Sister Pugh. I really miss Sister Nicoll, and it was so much fun to be able to spend time with her! She is so sweet! We have so much fun together, and I realize now how great she was as a trainer and how lucky I was that she was so much fun and such a good missionary. I love her!

Sister Nicoll

Cutting hair

M-Member's Money: A member paid for all of the missionaries in the Paisley Zone to go Go-Karting, so we went last Monday! That was so much fun. I am awful at Go-Karting, did you know that? Yup, I really am. 

M-Most Awkward Walk of my Life: After Kilmarnock, the STL had to come and have an emergency sleepover there (second sleepover with Kilmarnock in two nights, one in Irvine and one in Kilmarnock) and so none of us had a change of clothes or anything to get ready with or wear, so we all left the next morning in the same clothes, with our hair disgusting and our makeup still partway on and partway rubbed off. While we were walking, one guy looked at us and said, "Rough night?" It looked like we'd been partying all night, and it was just awful!! Pretty funny though. 

M-y favourite quote of the week: "The Church is 'for the perfecting of the saints' (Eph. 4:12); it is not a well-provisioned rest home for the already perfected." --Neal A. Maxwell

M-y testiomony: I know the Savior lives and loves us all! I know that sometimes life doesn't make sense and trials don't seem fair or pleasing to us, but I know that if we let the Atonement shape us, and our trials shape us, that we will become far more pleased with ourselves and with our new-found strength that only comes from Jesus Christ. I know that He is the source of strength that we seek. I know He can provide comfort, wisdom, peace, knowledge, and an increased capacity to do and become the children of God that we are to become. As we give our will to Him, we will become that person we are seeking. Hope is meant to bridge the gap between where we are and where we'd like to be, and the Saviour is the whole source of that hope. As we trust Him, we will become who we want to be! 

M-ucho Amor,

Sister Ricks

A few pictures!

Sister Nicoll

Sister Jackson

Sister Hulet

Can you see my gray hair?

Hello, Hello, Hello Family!

I am writing you as a new person--a wrinkly, grey-haired, arthritic, cat-loving, knitting, 21 YEAR OLD! I am soooooo old. The gap between 20 and 21 is much more than a year; it's a lifetime! :)

Really, though, I had a fantabulous birthday. It started when Sister Jackson woke up on her own at 4:45 and snuck out of our room to do some birthday stuff for me (apparently it's really hard to keep secrets from your companion) and since our flat is so creaky, she yoga-posed/army crawled out of the room. I so wish that I would have been awake to see it.  I woke up at 6:30 and got a call from our elders at 6:33 wishing me happy birthday. We did our usual morning exercise (a dance workout that I was totally rubbish at) and then Sister Jackson told me I couldn't leave my room until she said. So I sat in there and then when she said, I came down to her presents for me--a Pop-Tart breakfast complete with a candle popped into the middle and a cover for my study Book of Mormon. Ah! She is so sweet, and although the rest of my birthday was wonderful, this was my favorite part, because she'd gone into so much effort and secrecy to make these things for me. Oh my goodness, I just love her so much!

After we got ready and did some lesson plans, we headed out to a breakfast appointment. Yes, you read those words right. Breakfast Appointment. Do those exist? Not really. We were supposed to be studying, but when it's your birthday, you do things like having breakfast appointments. We went to the Rodgerses’ who had muffins, crumpets (which are really just big pancakes) and normal pancakes with skooshy cream, maple syrup (haven't had that in ages), honey, butter, etc. They also offered us Irn Bru but we just took it home because really, who has soda for breakfast? Come on! That was delightful!

When we got home from breakfast, the elders had broken into our flat and decorated it all for my birthday. There were balloons, streamers, candy everywhere, bubbles, presents, and a personal cake! That was really cool, and also made me wish I would have cleaned a bit better. Haha. It was also funny because they made Sister Jackson video-tape me and so I felt like a weirdo walking around the flat screaming about how cool everything was while I was being taped. Seriously, way fun though, and they'd been planning it all behind my back! Luckily I didn't know it was happening, because apparently Elder Shubin gave it away a bunch of times. Good thing I'm blonde, eh?

Yes, my bed is huge, eh?

Then we had a lightning fast weekly planning session, which was lucky because usually that is the worst time of the week! It was fun because it was interspersed with random people calling me to wish me happy birthday, including my ex-district leader, Elder Sewell, Knightswood Sisters, Hamilton, Motherwell, AP's, Stuart Churchilll, Kirsty, etc. That made it pretty fun, and also we were speedy quick! We'll pay for it next week, but again, it was my BIRTHDAY! :)

We then headed to Sylvia's, who had decorated her house for a birthday shindig. She is so sweet! She even bought me a present, and then had a delicious lunch of tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches with salad, soup, and then some birthday cake. (Fun fact: People here don't really bake. Desserts/puddings are always store bought). She is amazing, and the bracelet she bought me was so sweet. It had a bunch of wee hearts and then a big one and she said, "This bracelet is perfect for you, because all of these little hearts are ones you've touched, but the big heart is mine." How sweet is that? Ah, she's amazing!

 

With Sylvia! She is so funny

Birthday cake with Sylvia!

Then we had a joint teach with Brother McCafferty to P--. That was good, and she even said she'd come to church! She didn't end up coming, but at least she said she would. That's a step in the right direction. It was funny though, because when we were walking up to her, these girls stopped us and said, "Are you the Jesus People?" We looked at each other and said, "Yeah." One said "Is God real?" and we told her that He is and she said to her friends, "See? He is real!" and then they walked away. We should have given them a card or something, but when we heard her say that she believed in God in the same sentence as the f-word, we didn't try as hard as we perhaps should have. Haha.

Then we got lost on the way to the Murnos’ for dinner with the bishop and family. So we got picked up. And then we had my birthday dinner! It was delicious--fajitas, tacos, nachos, and birthday cheesecake! They had decorated as well and were so sweet. I absolutely love the Cooks, especially wee Diabetic Adam, who is a ball of fun. We have loads of fun together and always call each other, "You CHEEKY monkey!" and when anybody else tries to call him that, he says that Sister Ricks says that. Haha. Seriously, he's way fun though, and we had a blast altogether. Sister Cook even bought diabetic ice cream. She's awesome!

East Kilbride Missionaries at the Cook's!

 

Adam

We went to A--'s after, because she couldn't come to the party, so we told her all about it and then taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She is doing so well! She is thinking about when she's going to be baptised and seriously has such a strong testimony. She is absolutely amazing!!! She is also being a little missionary--she has given her friend a Book of Mormon and is giving her the pamphlets and is calling her "my new investigator." She's a better missionary than I am! I love her so much and we had a grand ol' time.

Then Sister McNally gave us a lift home because we'd missed the bus. And the next day she fed us another birthday dinner--crumb chicken, my absolute favorite!!! Then the cake she made was all these wee animals--sheep, cows, pigs--and they were stacked on top of each other so we all got one. She said the idea was to "feed my sheep." Haha. How cute is that? She's amazing!

At the end of the day, after I'd talked to Sister Ashdown and Sister Nicoll (yay!!!) we had the ginger wine that a lady had made us the night before. Coolest way to celebrate turning 21, and don't worry, it wasn't alcoholic! It was actually amazing how we met her. We were at this member's home, Sister McGlasghan, and her non-member sister came in and was really nice and invited us to dinner. It's not every day a non-member invites you over, especially for food, so we jumped at the chance! When we went, her house was beautiful and she cooked amazing food; we had shots of ginger wine and a delicious dinner. She knits all of these wonderful things and was just so nice and said she'd have us over again! She isn't really an investigator, but she likes us and is nice. So there you go! That's M--, and she is amazing.

 

With Sister McGlasghan 

Ginger wine. hahaha

Crumb Chicken...sooooo good

We like to iron. :)

Other stuff from this week:

We also went by this referral from the elders, and they'd given this lady a Family Proclamation. When we got there, she said she wasn't going to be converted but thought the Proclamation was amazing, is going to put it in her kitchen wall, and thinks that every religion believes all of those things. She was so chuffed with it, it was amazing! So much fun.

Mark I-- and Brother McCafferty came to church (Brother McCafferty was reactivated!!!) Yay! They both also came to Emma Cook’s (bishop's sweet daughter) baptism, and that was amazing. Sister Jackson and I were able to play a piano/viola duet while they changed for the confirmation, and it was wonderful and I felt the Spirit so strongly. It was an amazing day.

I'll end with my testimony of the Atonement. We were asked to write it in Zone Conference/Interview Training this week, and these were some of my thoughts:

The Atonement is an easy principle that is hard to understand. The Atonement does not balance mercy and justice for us, it simply ensures that the debt has been paid. It is always in our favor. We cease to be indebted to one who demands justice for personal victory and become debtors to the Merciful Being whose motivation is anything but personal and, in fact, is centered solely around our eternal satisfaction. When we understand the Atonement, we stop trying to "repay" the debt that we had, but rather we feel grateful that our debt is to the King of Mercy, the one who stands waiting and helping us to succeed. Our gratitude will be shown in our obedience, and our obedience will grant us more blessings and, indeed, more mercy. The scales are always tipped. We will never be even. But it was never the plan to be even. It was the plan to get to Heavenly Father, and the Atonement is the only way that we will get there.

The Church is true! I am so grateful to be a missionary! I love you all and hope you are happy!!!

Love,

Sister Amanda Ricks

See you later … alligators

Hiya Family!

We moved flats this week! Our new one is quite nice: two stories. We have a hall that leads straight to the bathroom *which has a pink toilet seat* and then a living room with leather couches, a TV in the closet because clearly we can't use it, a nice kitchen, stairs, and a study room and bedroom upstairs! I even have a double bed, because Sister Jackson decided that the senior companion got the bigger bed. I haven't told her yet that sometimes I can feel the boards in the bed. Ha. I guess I should buy sheets.  Really, though, it's super nice and is in a really nice area! The Village is the original bit of East Kilbride, so it's nice and vintagey (is that a word?) and just fun to be in. I love it!

Funny Scottish word: Jamp. Past tense of jump. That is most definitely not a word.

Cool part of the week: We were helping Brother McCafferty-- with his shopping at Iceland (have I ever told you that Brother McCafferty-- is basically all blind) and he was talking to the cashier about our church and asked her if she'd like to "investigate our church"! It was seriously amazing--I was so proud of him for being so bold!

The highlight of the week was definitely general conference! I absolutely loved it! I hope you were able to see it as well. Conference is a bit different here. Most people still watch it in their homes, so mostly it was just missionaries and random people that we brought along at Julian Avenue, the Stake Center. We listened to the Relief Society session on Saturday afternoon, the Saturday morning on Saturday evening, the Priesthood session on early Sunday morning (I didn't go, clearly) the Saturday afternoon on Sunday morning, and the Sunday Morning on Sunday Evening. I don't know if that made sense, but it's kind of fun being all out of order. And realizing that the session most people watch here is Saturday afternoon, which was amazing because Elder Holland's talk was there!!! Seriously, I loved his talk. Sometimes I wonder if the talks that I love are always from the same people because they are the best or because I just expect them to be good and they are. In any case, I loved Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Holland, President Monson, and President Eyring. So good.

Well. Out of time. It was a good week though. And the church is still true, so that's lucky.

Love you all!

Babe