What Goes Around Comes Around

Dearest Family, 

Mum just asked what my rose, bud, and thorn were for the week. So I told her that my thorn was that I had to go to the hospital. I didn't even explain what happened. Wasn't that mean of me? He, he, he. 

On Friday morning I woke up with a massive headache. We went out walking and I just couldn't move. It was terrible so I went back to bed at 7:30 and ended up sleeping on and off until 4:30. Even sleeping that much told me that something was wrong and that I was sick or something. 

I hoped that sleeping would make it better, but after all that sleep and a full night's rest, I still had a migraine. I don't usually suffer from headaches, so we phoned Sister Brown, who is in charge of all medical care, and she gave us a number to phone, which we did, and they sent us to the hospital. We went to the A&E ward (accidents and emergencies) not because it was serious but because it was a Saturday and I had to see an out-of-hours G.P. 

Anyway, it's nothing too crazy, but apparently I have extreme tension in my neck and in my head, and it's messing with my nerve and giving me a pounding headache. There's nothing that I can really do to change it besides stop doing whatever is causing tension (which is probably missionary work to be fair and you can bet your life that I won't stop doing that) and so I just drank some Irn Bru and took some paracetamol and am taking it easy. 

There is a definite bud that comes out of this--because the tension is so bad and I guess there are knots really bad all in my neck, Sister and President Brown are going to call their friend here, and she is going to give me a massage that the mission will pay for. Now, if that's not a big tender mercy, I don't know what is. Happy day. 

The other big news from this week was that we got moves call and Sister Pugh is leaving me. I am terribly gutted and I am training a new missionary.  That should be good and I will get some good humbling before I leave the mission: that is always a happy thing. I'm going to be very repentant and learn humility and isn't that just the best thing ever? :) always. 

On Monday this week we played football with the elders and even though we don't keep score as missionaries, Elder Bayles and my team dominated and we won. :) Ha. That was fun. It rained really hard and so that was likewise fun. Also that evening we went to a family that is just wonderful and had dinner and FHE with them. I am playing for their son's baptism and they are such a solid, church-going family. I want to be like them someday. The McGlashans are great.

Tuesday was our last District Meeting which was great, and we taught Kimberley about praying. 

Wednesday we chapped a hostel looking for our potential and met a funny man from Zimbabwe who hates living in Scotland. That was an adventure! 

*Sometimes I have these moments that I call "snapshots." It's a moment where I think, "I would never in my life think that I would ever be doing this." Like chapping the door of a hostel. Who knew I would ever do that? But then I did. Snapshot!!

Thursday was Weekly Planning. And the rest of the week was just boring and normal except for the hospital visit. 

Ann is progressing wonderfully. She prayed this week and the Spirit was so strong in our lesson primarily because she is so prepared for the gospel. She was really wonderful and I am so grateful for the blessing it is to teach her. 

It's been a pretty crazy transfer with Sister Pugh, and we have experienced a lot of heartache and emotional roller-coaster moments, but all in all it's been one of the greatest transfers of my mission. I think the primary reason I was sent to her was to learn how to deal consistently and more healthily with stress. She just doesn't get stressed, and I learned so much about letting things go that you can't control and caring to a certain extent but not getting sick about it. Ah, it was just a breath of fresh air to serve with her this transfer! I wish she was killing me off but I know she's going where she needs to go. 

Pray for me this week. Training is hard. :) 'nuff said. 

"There's no growth in the comfort zone, and there's no comfort in the growth zone." How true that statement is! 

I love each of you dearly! Know that I have a testimony of the Savior and His restored gospel. What a blessing it is to know that we can be a family for eternity. :) 

Over and out. 

Love,

Sister Ricks

xxx

        

Ooft

Dearest Family,

If you were to ask who is the tiredest girl in the U.K. today, who do you think it would be? 

It certainly wouldn't be the queen. 

It wouldn't be Princess Kate either. 

It wouldn't even be the lady who is probably running a marathon at this very moment. 

Nope. It would be me. I take the cake. I win the prize. The gold star is mine. I am the most knackered, shattered, eyes-closey, body-can't-move, tired girl in the world! 

Which reminds me of a great quote I read this morning from Joseph B. Wirthlin:

"It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. With all the pressures and demands on our time and the stress we face each day, it’s little wonder we get tired. Many feel discouraged because they have not measured up to their potential. Others simply feel too weak to contribute. And so, as the flock moves on, gradually, almost imperceptibly, some fall behind.

“Everyone has felt tired and weary at one time or another. I seem to feel more so now than I did when I was younger. Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, even Jesus Christ knew what it meant to be tired. I do not wish to underestimate the weight that members of the Church bear upon their shoulders, nor do I minimize the emotional and spiritual trials they face. These can be heavy and often difficult to bear.

“I do, however, have a testimony of the renewing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed that the Lord ‘giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.’  When I feel tired, I remember the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith:

“’Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. …

“’… Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; … and let all the sons of God shout for joy!’

“For you members of the Church who hold back because of feelings of inadequacy, I plead with you to step forward, put your shoulder to the wheel, and push. Even when you feel that your strength can add little, the Church needs you. The Lord needs you. Remember that the Lord often chooses ‘the weak things of the world” to accomplish His purposes."

I pretty much think that's wonderful and am grateful for the uplift that it gave to me. 

So. Other than exhausting, this week was wonderful. It was pretty emotionally trying, if you want to know the truth, but luckily trials are for our benefit, and I will grow. That's a happy thing.

Monday we went and played golf with the Elders. More grass flew in my case than the actual golf ball, but hey, I did my best. Elder Bayles fell down like Happy Gilmore when he was trying to golf. Sister Pugh and I were equally parred (hahahaha). And Elder Holman is basically good at everything, so he killed us all. We were just at a random free driving range. 

Tuesday was good. We did weekly planning. Weekly planning is long. 

Wednesday we got to have our Interviews with President! It was the best thing of my life. I was able to receive a lot of wisdom and encouragement and compliments from President Brown, and those mean so much. I absolutely love President. 

Thursday we had a great appointment--one of our members has invited her friends to take the discussions so we went over and taught the first part of the Restoration lesson. That was pretty great. It was kind of sad though, because that is exactly what missionary work should be--members inviting missionaries to come and teach their friend, the member being the driving force--but because that hasn't happened too often at all on my mission, it was hard to know my place in the situation because it was so unfamiliar. That probably means I don't know how to inspire members to do missionary work, but I have to say that it was a pleasant experience and we are teaching her again this week. I canny wait--she is wonderful, aye! 

Friday we had Nacho Night at the church (although the Nachos that the Elders made were mingin...they even called and apologized after they'd tasted them, haha) and we played some games like put a sticky note on your forehead and guess what you are (I was a helicopter) and some chair football. It was fun but we were all in dresses and my competitive side got the better of me which was kind of bad...but I won...so I guess it couldn't have really been that bad, eh? 

Money can't buy everything, 

Money can't make you a king,

Money cannot bring success,

Money can't buy happiness,

But of one thing I am sure,

Money doesn't make you poor,

Money doesn't make you sad,

Money can't be all that bad!

Something like that, aye. :) 

Saturday we helped Alison in her garden. It was fun because mowers here are really more like hoovers than anything else and you don't mow in straight lines. You just vacuum the grass. It's hilarious and I had a blast. 

Church was good. I gave a five-minute talk on the Godhead. One member said to me after, "Your talk was pretty average today." He was right. It was one-hundred-percent, uncle-monkey, average. I was going for simple and I got it. I was quite chuffed with that, and it was a talk that investigators could understand, hopefully. 

Our friend, Kimberley, came to church again! She's the Family History find and so that was just lovely. She's sweet. 

We also taught the Restoration to a wonderful man named Graham last night. He had so many questions and it made me remember that on my mission, the times I have been the absolute most happy are when I've taught that lesson to someone who's never heard it before. It really doesn't get any better than that. 

The Church is true and has been restored today! My testimony of the Restoration has primarily developed on my mission--and I am eternally grateful for that! :) 

Love,

Sister Ricks

Xx

Proselyting at 11:30 p.m.

Dearest Family,

"OUR LIVES!!!" This is Sister Pugh's favorite thing to say, and it has been so true of this week. 

This is the story of two missionaries. They thought it would be a great idea to bake some cookies for this cute old lady in their ward named Sister Brown. She is sweet and probably likes cookies so off they went, using the recipe on the back of the Chocolate Chip package. Although they had no vanilla, one of the missionaries thought honey would probably work and so she squeegied a bit of that in. The dough was delicious and so in the cookies went. Although they were a bit burned on the edges and doughy in the middle, they were edible. :) 

Now. One of the missionaries hadn't lived here for a long time and so when she turned off the oven, she didn't do it properly. This wasn't realized until after planning when their carbon monoxide detector went off. Oh no, the missionaries said! We'd best call the Elders in our area--they'll know what to do! So after calls to the Glenrothes elders, the Mission Home, the Bishop, Sister Brown, and the Zone Leaders, the neighbor lady came over smoking her fag and gave the missionaries the number for the Scottish National Gas company. Eventually, after sitting on their balcony writing in their journals, the gas man came over at about 11:30 p.m., checked their levels and determined them okay, turned off their gas, and went on his way (complete with a mormon.org card and the sisters’ testimonies of the Church.) 

All should have been fine and dandy and the story could end with "And they lived happily ever after" but where would a story replete with changes be if there were only one conflict? And alas, the final conflict was a bit tricky, because the landlord of the missionaries was in Kenya and wasn't coming home yet. So these two sisters had to live without gas in their flat for a wee while. Nay hot showers, nay heating, nay oven. Luckily they had a nice friend a few minutes up the road named Winnie who let them use her shower. And they had some nice members to feed them.

To be continued------because we still don't have our gas. :) 

We seriously did so much finding this week; I'm pretty exhausted. Here is what I wrote in my e-mail to President this week: 

We had a great week--full of chapping--but we met a wonderful girl named Kimberley on the street and invited her to learn about Family History. She accepted and we went the following day to set up an account and invite her to church. She accepted and then spent six hours with us yesterday--between travelling to church, a member who invited the three of us to dinner, and the Employment Specialists who pulled her aside to help her find a job! She is absolutely brilliant and it was a great faith-promoting experience. I feel my faith has been lacking lately and this was Heavenly Father's way of helping me realize that good things can and do happen every day. 

Dawn is still on track to get baptized and is so excited. She asked the Bishop to baptize her yesterday, and we have loads of joint teaches set up this week so she can meet some wonderful people in our ward! 

Those were the main highlights of the week. I'm going to try and send some pictures now, since I haven't my whole time here! Sorry about that. :) I love you all loads! I'm sending a great Father's Day video link...because we are so lucky to have such a great dad! Love you loads, Dad!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013&lang=eng&cid=HPTU061014222

Love you all! 

Sister Ricks  

Mrs. Fannypants

Dearest Family,

This morning, when I was running at the castle by our flat, I slipped and fell. It wasn't bad and it was just because the 15th Century stairs were a bit mossy and maybe it was a dumb idea to run on them, but on the other hand--how many times in my life will I get to go running five minutes from my flat on 15th Century stairs? So my skinned elbow is totally worth it. Aye! But I fell on my bum and hence the title of the e-mail. Also did you know "Fanny" is a really bad word over here? 

This week was pretty good. We have a wonderful investigator, D--, and she is progressing to be baptized on the 25 June. That will be a wonderful occasion particularly because Sister Pugh has never seen anybody baptized.  What a success.

Interesting note on success: Success does not come to us when other people choose to accept our message. Success is our choice. If we invite others to come unto Christ, we are successful. Successful missionaries/member missionaries do not necessarily have loads of baptisms. Successful missionaries/member missionaries invite loads of people and therein lies their success. Same principle is true of life but I'm going to take off my preacher hat now.

We had a good Ward Council meeting this week. It reminded me that really missionaries are pawns and the ward drives the work. We can't do it on our own. And they can't do it without us. We aren't really helping each other--we are helping the Lord, because it's His work and we're just small helpers! So that was a good reminder. 

We were ready to catch our bus, the 7, a few minutes early because it’s a bit temperamental and tends to be either early or late. So we were there early and it didn't come for 30 minutes. We were on the way to an appointment that we could not be late for and were freaking out, and I felt the whole time like we should call our amazing RS president, S. Sharff.  We did and she came to our rescue, picked us up, and dropped us off in a good amount of time so we could do some good chapping and find some potentials. I loved that and was so grateful to her! She is the sweetest ever. She also gave us some Cath Kidston bags this week because I told her how much I loved hers. That is a huge deal. Ah! She is just brilliant and lovely and I want to be like her one day.

Also we had a great Dinner Appointment with the Fellows--they are all diabetic so the majority of the people at the dinner appointment were diabetic! It was cool to talk about with people who know what's going on. Then they gave me strawberries and ice cream for dessert instead of what everybody else got. The strawberries here are delicious, so I wasn't complaining. But the best part was that they gave me DIET BARQUE'S. I haven't had Root Beer in ages, and it was so so so delicious. Ah, the sweet fluid running down my throat increased the happiness in my soul and in my heart! ;) But seriously. It tasted like this...good.

We also had Stake Conference and got to go to both sessions. I have had so many stake conferences on my mission, since they're at different times of the year and we move around. I have gone to loads and Sister Pugh has almost moved right before so she's gone to next to none. It was delightful and I learned a lot! We also got to hear from President and Sister Brown, which is always amazing. President Brown talked about obedience, of course, and his quote is my finale to this e-mail. 

"If we are almost obedient, we will almost receive the blessings that come from obedience." 

I dare you to choose something you're not as obedient as you could be about, change it, and see the blessings flow into your life! 

I love you all! The Church is true and the gospel changes lives!

Love,

Sister Amanda Ricks

xx