Up in the Girdle

Dearest Family, 

Picture of me as I leave in the mornings: giant sleeping bag marshmallow coat with two scarves and a smaller coat underneath; a pair of tights with long socks overlaid; followed by my big black boots. Boy, I am just ready to face the world when I go out in the morning! :) 

But really, the weather has been hilarious recently. One of our friends was telling us that she came inside and it was sunny out, and she thought, "I should take out the bins." So she came into the kitchen from outside, walked out to take out the bins, and it was raining. Scottish weather--4 seasons in one day! :) 

Some stuff from this week: 

We were teaching a new investigator named S-- in the library. This was our first appointment with him after stopping him on the street a few weeks ago. We were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation, and he seemed pretty distracted.  He was just not too bothered by anything. Then at the end, I asked him how old he was. I thought he was about 16 from the looks of him. Turns out he was 13!!!!!!!!! Turns 14 in March. So if he continues to learn, we would have to get permission from his parents. How funny is that? I don't know why it cracked me up but it just did. So weird. 

A—J--, our lovely investigator whose son is the YM President of the ward, is seriously the best lady ever. She said that she would work towards being baptized on March 1, but she wants to set a date when she is totally ready, because she wants to be 100% committed. She is dead brilliant, and she lives in the most beautiful place in the world: Troon. Ah! I love her and our lessons with her are full of the Spirit. I love her! 

D-- is our neighbour investigator who was a referral from our Stake President. He is so wonderful and is still working towards 22 February for his baptismal date. He told us that he feels the same as he reads the Book of Mormon and the Bible, that he knows Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus, and that he thinks of Sister Kline and me as his "weens" (wee ones, like children) and loves it when we come by because it makes him feel good. He doesn't see that these are answers to his question about joining the church, and we're striving to help him understand. After he found out that we don’t drink coffee, he poured his down the drain. He is incredible! 

T-- is another investigator who is doing well. He came to church for the first time yesterday and is working for March 1. He has a bit of a rough past, but he is moving forward and says we are a "godsend." So that is awesome! 

It was L--'s birthday yesterday, which was so fun because she is the best ever! She is the one who lived in Arizona and then moved back to her home of Scotland. So she knows loads about both Scotland and Arizona, and hers is such a comfortable place to be at.

Also ... I've been going through the PMG lessons sentence by sentence and finding cross references for each. I can't find any scriptures about the Reformation. Does anybody know any? 

Also, it was Burns Night this week! And KIRSTY LANG came down from East Kilbride!!! Best day ever! I love her and she is just the best. When we went to meet our member for our JT, she said, "She came all the way from East Kilbride? She must really love you." I didn't know what to say because Kirsty is just the coolest and will be my friend for forever. I really love her. 

Also. I've started the last three paragraphs with "also." How annoying is that? But I was super excited because this week, Sister Kline and I met the Standard of Excellence--the numbers in our mission that we all strive to meet! There are different numbers for those at church, with a date, new investigators, etc.  We met them all! I am so happy and know the Lord is blessing us. 

The Church is definitely true! Today is my ten-month mark, and it is as true today as it was the day I started.   I can't believe that ten months have gone by, and I'm so looking forward to working my hardest in the next eight months. It makes me sad that I have such a short amount of time left, but I'll work my hardest to leave the Lord's message with everyone I come in contact with. 

Love,

Sister Amanda Ann Ricks

P.S. I forgot to mention. The second two hours of church were cancelled this week because the heater went out and it was too cold. So we only had sacrament meeting. Hahaha! Crazy stuff here in Scotland!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Day!

Hello, hello, hello! 

Have you ever noticed how long it takes to say "Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!"? That is ages of names that he had. It would be so much nicer if his name were more like Joseph Smith or Enos even. Enos sounds nice. “Happy Enos Day!” That would take way less breath and would probably help those with breathing problems so they wouldn't have so many asthma attacks. But anyway. 

Drum roll for moves call please.......Sister Kline and I are staying together in Irvine!!! HOORAY! Seriously, I am more than excited about it. I am ecstatic! I am jubilated! The amount of my enthusiasm has increased as the amount of daylight has in the last few days! Hooray! 

The work in Irvine is truly miraculous. We have been blessed with so much success this last wee while, and we are happy to stay together and to continue to work. Yesterday was Sister Kline's birthday and the best present was that we had two people commit to a baptismal date. Neither has been taught more than two lessons, so we are hoping they will be prepared before February 22 and March 1. One is our neighbour and has been investigating different churches for 17 years now. He says that he hopes the Mormon Church is right because he's running out of options. He he he. 

Because it is so cold here, a lady asked Sister Kline if her hands were so yellow from smoking or from fake tan. Sister Kline had to say that her hands were yellow because they were just so freezing. Ha ha ha. 

I got to go on an exchange in Hamilton this week with Sister Ashdown and Sister Oliphant. That was lovely, and I had kind of a cool experience. We were walking and suddenly I found myself stopping this guy (one of those times where you feel like Heavenly Father took over your body and you don't know how it happened) and he told me that he has felt that something is missing in his life. He knows he needs faith. He asked how he could switch faiths. He asked what he could do to learn more before our appointment with him in two days. He was AMAZING—the  most prepared person I've ever met on the street. I can already see him in a jumpsuit. He is seriously going to be baptized so soon. 

Well, that was the main bit of my week. It was seriously such a great week, and I am so happy to be a missionary! 

This work is true and is inspired by God! 

I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Ricks

xxx

Sister Ashdown and I for halfway

The STL's from this last transfer 

Trial of Your Faith

Well hello! 

This week had Ether 12:6 written all over it. Do you know it by heart? Just in case you don't, here we are: 

"And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." 

TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH. Why does everything have to come through trials? Well, it just does.

On Friday, Sister Kline had our first day together for a full day in our area. Because of Christmas, Zone/Interview Training and other things, it was our first full day together to proselyte. I tell you what: it was the longest day of my life. I think we probably spent about eight hours finding. I was spiritually and physically exhausted. It was freezing cold. I did not want to be out in the cold. I was complaining. I was lacking faith that those we were speaking with were prepared. I had a terrible attitude (we both did), and it showed in our work. 

On Saturday, we decided to have more faith and to be more positive about everything. Although we still did a lot of finding, we found those that have truly been prepared by Heavenly Father to receive the gospel. Those we spoke to were kind. They accepted our message and set up return appointment times. Whether or not they accept us eventually, they did on Saturday. I know it was because of our faith. If they all go through, we will have so many new investigators this week.

"Faith is a real power, not just an expression of belief." Things happen when we have faith. Changes are made, both in us and in others around us. Our faith can impact hundreds, thousands, of God's children, but it begins with the choice to have it. So. Let's all choose to have faith. Mmmmk, pumpkin? 

Hm ... other things that are going on. A recent convert, D--, who was baptized just before I came here has decided not to come back to church. His parents freaked out, apparently, and so now he is not coming back. Eeek. I hate opposition sometimes, especially because he is baptized and thus has responsibilities. We are trying our best to get him to come back. :( 

We are also teaching the most golden lady in the world, A--! She is SO amazing. I don't know if I talked about her last week, but she's the non-member mother of some cool members in our ward. She is absolutely brilliant. She understands everything, because she has been coming to church for a few years. She asks great questions and we have the Spirit when we teach her. I seriously love her so much. 

Oh, we also taught an awesome guy, T--, the Restoration lesson. It was a total PMG Restoration—straight with the Joseph Smith vision and everything. He said he would be baptized if he knew it was true on March 1. We aren't sure if he was drunk or not when we were teaching him, but let's hope he wasn't and was sincere. Good stuff! 

I don't really know what else I have to report on. I have been thinking a lot about my testimony lately and how it has changed over my mission. It's funny that the more you study simple doctrine, the more questions you have; but also the more you want your questions to be answered and have faith, they can be. It's such an interesting conundrum, but I do know for sure that the things we teach are true. 

I have been thinking a lot this week about where my testimony came from. I think I've really always known that God is there. There's never been a doubt, a real doubt, that He wasn't listening to me or that He didn't love me. I've always known that Christ was my Savior. Even though it came a bit later, I knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. There are some people to whom these truths don't come easily. For me, it was always a belief that was instilled in me. I think it's because I am almost entirely emotions-based. I like reading if the book makes me feel good. I like being happy. I like being around people that make me happy, and if I start to feel upset, I usually just leave. I am like 95% emotions. Because praying has always made me feel good, because Christ came to cleanse us of our sins, because the Book of Mormon taught good things and I enjoyed feeling the Spirit as I studied it, I've always believed those things are true. It's interesting how Heavenly Father can speak to us specifically in the way that we are going to understand it. 

I am so grateful for the gospel! It's true! Jesus Christ lives and loves all of us. 

"There is divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless." --James E. Faust sent to me from the dear Sister Nicoll, who is now home and doing weird things like getting fake nails and going on vacations. What the what? 

I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Amanda Ann Ricks

Pictures!

K--- is  sooooo cool!! This is when she came over when I was really sad about leaving EK.

S-- and C-- and I

Elder Shubin is so cool!!! One of the goofiest people I've ever met.

The L-- family--A-- and K---!! I love them so much!

Sister T--. She makes excellent soup and is just so nice!! She used to live in Falkirk which is cool but they moved to East Kilbride! Hurray!

The R--'s are so cool. I miss them heaps.

Sister Jacques and I! She is lovely.

C--- Family--Best Family EVER!

The M---'s are the best!

Sister B--...she was wonderful!!! We taught at her house all the time in EK.

Leaving East Kilbride. This is right outside our flat. So sad. :( 

Sister Kline and I with our cool things we had just bought! First day together!

S--'s Baptism!!! HOORAY! She got confirmed yesterday.

I can't remember if I sent this one either. It's Sister Clegg and I in a Christmas ornament. Haha.

Can't remember if I already sent this Cheeky Monkey picture!!

Dearest Family,

The last few weeks have been sheer madness, and I am gutted that I've not sent a proper e-mail in a good wee while. Hopefully today's will make up for it a bit, but I am genuinely sorry that I have been horrible in recent communications. 

The holiday season is a bit tricky as a missionary. You are confined by quite a few rules and times that you either can't leave the flat or need to be with a member. That was a bit tricky but what do you do? The best part was that I got to watch Tangled twice (that was the only Disney movie I really wanted to see) and we also watched the Emma Smith movie. Pretty good stuff! It's funny how much I love churchy stuff on my mission. It is just the best ever! It cracks me up when an EFY song comes on or one from mormon.org and every missionary knows the words or the annoying parts and whatnot. So funny. 

This was a wonderful week! We got to exchange with the Stornaway sisters (serving on the Isle of Lewis), and they never get to do exchanges or see other missionaries. They even Skype into district meetings because it costs loads of money to get them out here. So because it was Zone/Interview Training, they got to fly in and we had a couple of days to exchange with them. It's always good to get another missionary's perspective, and I learn so much from exchanges! It really strengthens my testimony and resolve to be a better missionary. I was with Sister Firth, and she is just lovely. She's super cute and it was a lot of fun. Plus we learned from each other so it was all around good. 

We also got to train at Zone/Interview Training. Sister Kline and I had an hour of instruction four times this week because the zones receive training in halves to minimize wasted time. Friday was Paisley Zone and Saturday was Glasgow Zone. I was nervous because standing in front of other missionaries can be quite scary, but then I was comfortable quite quickly and remembered that is the kind of thing I love to do! I love to teach groups of people, and it just felt like I was teaching Sunday School again. Hooray! It was a lot of fun and went well. Hopefully people learned, but if they didn't then I learned a lot from instructing. So it was a plus for sure.  

Another plus is that we had a baptism a wee while ago!! She was so prepared and basically ready to go when I got here, but we had to teach her all the lessons and get her all ready. She's been coming to church for ten years, but she could never get permission from her parents to get baptized, and so they finally said yes, we taught her, and she got baptized! She's super good friends with this member family, the Pedens, and so they planned everything and our job was easy--just teaching! That is the way missionary work would be ideally all the time, and it was just wonderful. She is beautiful! I'll send a picture today. 

It was pretty funny when we had our interview with President (I just realized I said "we" and "our" even though I meant "I had my interview," but I feel like I always need plural pronouns these days) because we just chatted and I love President! He told me my release date--September 24. Mark that on your calendars, and the reason it's not the same is because there's a five-week transfer once a year somewhere. So there you go! Then I went to have my planner checked by the APs (one of which is Elder Tinsley.  Do you remember my saying I knew someone in this mission from Viewmont? It's him) and they sent me on a secret mission to get them lunch because they were starving. So Sister Kline and I went and got them some Subway. It was pretty funny. 

The coolest moment of the week was yesterday. We were committed by the Paisley Zone Leaders to prepare for a companionship study role play every day. We were to decide who we would role play teaching, the context it would be in, and the skill we would practice. Saturday night, we decided to role play some casual dinner conversation at a dinner appointment we had Sunday, because the member's non-member mother who comes to church and has for about two years would be there. We wanted to practice leading casual conversation into knowing her religious background and inviting her to receive the missionary lessons and be baptized. We role-played on Monday morning, and I pretended to be her although I knew nothing about her. I said my husband had died and a whole bunch of other things. Then we got to the dinner appointment and it went exactly as we had role-played. Her husband had died. She had been coming to church but had never received the missionary lessons. We invited her to receive them and she said she would. We will now be teaching her twice a week. How amazing is that!!!! I felt like I was coming straight out of Preach My Gospel and would have to say it was one of the happiest moments on my mission. It was also cool because we already had the appointment set up when our stake president gave us a list of people to go by (part-member families, etc.) and she was on it. So we followed his referral that we were so grateful for and it went perfectly. We were so, so happy! 

I feel that I have changed so much this transfer. Suddenly I feel like I understand the work we do much more. I want everyone to accept this message, and I have a huge belief that it can bless everyone. I know obedience is a quest and I know that living the rules is a huge blessing in my life. I know that we are sent to specific people and areas for a reason, and I know that coming to Irvine has been a tremendous blessing already. I adore Sister Kline and I am learning from her daily. She's only 19 but has the wisdom of a 35-year old. She's so sweet and I love her! 

Quote of the day: "The Savior's perfect and infinite arms of love give us strength to endure heartache and hardship, the power to resist temptation, and the courage to keep the commandments even as we are being mocked and scorned." 

The Church is Wonderful! And best of all--it's true! 

I love each of you very much! 

Love,

Sister Amanda Ann Ricks

What the what?

Well hello there family,

I know it's ridiculous that I'm sending another really short e-mail that has nothing to do with anything, but here you go. Next Monday we will be back to normal e-mailing and normal proselyting and that should be just lovely. I am so sorry about all this! 

New Year's Eve: went to bed at 10:30. Yay for missionary life! Seriously, I was never good at New Year's Eve anyway, so I wasn't too bothered. What do you do? 

Canny think of much else! Kirsty, Sister Lang, and Sister Andrew came up today from EK to take us out to lunch! That was lovely and I have missed them heaps and bunches. But it is probably good that I'm not in EK anymore because they are such good friends that I see them more as friends than as ward members. So what do you do? 

Well, I love you, all of you! I am doing training this week in front of a couple of zone interview trainings, so pray for me because I'm nervous! 

Hurrah for Israel! 

Love you! 

Sister Ricks