This isn’t missionary work! This is missionary fun!

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that was the most awesome conference that there has ever been! I felt like they talked about Scotland and Ireland all of conference! And about missionary work! I think they specifically planned conference just for me. And I am sure not complaining.

Fun fact: That "Wher-e'er thou art" stone is in the MTC. We're getting a picture with it tonight. But that is pretty cool that it's already hanging out here.

When Elder Neil L. Anderson gave a shout out to the "bursting MTC" we were all crammed in the gym and laughing about it. That was funny. It was also funny that whenever someone cool was going to speak, you would hear people say, "Yesssssss," like for Elder Holland or Elder Bednar. Good stuff. There are 623 missionaries leaving the MTC just this week. How crazy is that? I'm so excited to be a part of it! As Sister Nallie, the MTC president's wife, said, "You were here on the front edge of a mighty wave." I loved that! If you haven't read it lately, in Section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord talks about hastening his work and the servants He is going to send. It was seriously awesome to read about. I love it! I'm so stoked to be a missionary!!!

Also, did you hear Elder Falabella say, "A child who sings is a happy child!" And then, Mom and Dad, were you happy for a member of the Costco Chorus? Hope you miss my singing down the aisles!

I also loved Elder Nelson's shout out to Mom and Dad for sending me out on a mission while you prepare to go on your own senior mission. I loved those talks that just talked about missionary work! It is so important!

So I learned a great lesson this week. It's about obedience. I know that we hear about Obedience ALL of the time, but I just learned even more what it was about.

At the MTC, I've sort of had a hard time wanting to be exactly obedient. It doesn't seem normal to have to be quiet at 10:15, be in bed at 10:30, wake up at 6:30 even when you don't have conference until 10:00, not eat in the classrooms, not flirt with elders (yes, you can imagine this might be a problem), always being with a companion, having to put your garments on in the shower, etc. All of these rules seem kind of silly to me. And even though I have been praying hard this week to have the desire to be more obedient, it's hard to pray when you know that you're not really desiring to be more obedient and that makes it hard for the Lord to bless you.

Then I went to this Elder Holland talk/movie last night called "Missions Are Forever." He emphasized the importance of missionary work, and he read us Helaman 5:18, where it talks about the great power and authority of the missionaries. It uses the phrase, "power and authority" twice. Elder Holland says that we already have our authority from being set apart as full-time missionaries. But we get our power from, none other than, OBEDIENCE! The power we get from the Lord is directly correlated to how obedient we are to His commandments. As Elder Holland said, "This is God's work. And if it's His work, you have to do it in His way."

I don't know why that hit me so strongly. But ever since then, I want to be obedient! How do I expect to ask investigators to make commitments or obey commandments that they don't understand if I am not willing to do the same thing! God gives us commandments and rules for a reason. They really do make us happier. And if we are excited to keep the rules rather than always trying to break them, how much better off will we be? I am so excited to keep the rules now! I want to be in bed on time! I want to serve other people and keep the commandments! How anxious we should all be to keep the commandments of God. Elder Holland told us, "I've been your age, but you haven't been my age, so you better take my word for it." If Elder Holland can say that, how much more can God the Father say that? He has been there. He has done that. Christ has felt that. He knows what will make US happy. It's being obedient. So I now have a testimony that all of the rules are important. And if you try to think of an excuse of why a rule or a commandment is stupid, you can probably find one. You can always question God. And you can always find a reason for why He is wrong. You can also always weaken your testimony in this way. Because of course we, as humans, know better than the Almighty Creator. Not. If we look for reasons and ways to keep the commandments, we will find them every time. It's all a matter of perspective and what you want to be. You can choose to follow God or to question His will.

This morning when we were in the Celestial Room, one of our TRC investigators, Ivelisse, came in! So obviously we did a really good job teaching her if she's been baptized, confirmed, and endowed all within a week of having us teach her! We didn't even invite her to be baptized yet :) Ha, ha, ha.

All of the packages have been amazing! Also, when I got the bran muffins, I knelt down on the floor and put my head down because I was so happy. I was hoping you had remembered how much I loved them! And now I have Sister Steed and Sister Ashdown hooked on them. Talk about delicious.

Our district has started to sing a lot recently, which is pretty awesome. We have people who can sing every part and nobody even gets mad that I sing twice as loud as I am supposed to. So that is so fun. This morning, it was pouring rain walking to and from the temple, which just made me excited to get to Scotland. But we all walked in the pouring rain and sang "The Lord is my Light," "There is Sunshine in my Soul," and other songs. It was so much fun.

A girl in my room has a friend who is in Scotland/Ireland. He says that it is the hardest mission in Europe. He also says that they only send strong missionaries there who can handle it. So I am excited and humbled that I am one of those missionaries. Do you guys remember when I was promised success in my setting apart? I don't know what that success is going to be, but I can tell you that I am so excited to find out!

Also, in the MTC we have 2,200 missionaries right now I think they said. That is so many! The work is really moving forward to the ends of the Earth.

I love getting everybody's letters! I seriously have the best family in the world! The other day, I got two packages right in a row. I'd gotten the slip to pick one up the night before, but we were in class and since the mail office closes at 7, I couldn't get them. I went and I picked up my package and then we were picking up other stuff in 2M when my District Leader, Elder Limb, brought me another pink package slip and four letters. So I carried two packages and a whole bunch of letters back. And all the missionaries were looking at me thinking how unfair that was. They're right. Life isn't fair, but as long as it is unfair in my favor I am all good! :) Just kidding.

I am so happy that you are all doing well! I love you all and hope you are happy! Remember, like Elder Anderson said, "If you don't have a badge pinned on your coat, pin one on your heart!" You have the name of Jesus Christ taken on you because we've all been baptized. So let's act like it! :) :) :)

Can you tell that I am happy to be a missionary? I have seriously never been more excited in my life. My heart is pounding all day to realize that I'm about to go out and fulfill prophesy! I feel like Joseph Smith when he translated the Book of Mormon and read that chapter about himself. That's how I feel reading D&C 88. God saw ME when he wrote that! He saw this huge wave of misisonary work!!!! Catch the wave!! :)

Okay. I feel like I'm yelling because of the excessive punctuation marks. I apologize. I'm just very excited. What a great time to be alive and to be a missionary/mother/aunt/wife/father/uncle/grandpa/grandma/andwhateverelseyoufeellikeyouare. :)

Also, did you see the hash tags at General Conference? #MoTab and #LDSConf. I died! So funny!

Miss you all! Love you!

Sister Ricks

The Big Week

Wow. The MTC is so much different, but way cooler, than I thought it was going to be. It's crazy how excited people are about the gospel here. I have never felt so much true joy coming from any place. People realize that negativity and complaining drive out the Spirit, so you don't hear much of that here. Which I love! So much fun!

This letter is going to be pretty rambling and newsy.

The first day we got here and the Elder helped me carry my stuff. Yes, funny, and No, Whitney, my first companion is not an Elder. But I sure laughed at that. We had to wander around and I was so lost and it was just crazy. They send you through a bunch of lines to make sure you've done everything and then you head to your room. We had to find a place to put my insulin and that took about a year and a half, so yes, I was late to my first class. Congratulations to me. Way to set a good impression for myself.

My district is seriously so cool. My companion is Sister Steed, and she looks a whole lot like Julia Stiles if you know who that is. She is really sweet and even-tempered, which is good. I love working with her, and she is super hard working. We have a lot of the same struggles--not relying on ourselves, humility, patience, etc.--and so it's good to work with her because she understands the frustrations that come when you feel like you can't feel the Spirit.

Tangent about the Spirit: I know that everybody feels the Spirit in different ways. But when we were teaching one of our Progressing Investigators/Teachers, Matt, he evaluated us at the end and told us that we'd done terribly. Haha. We really did, and it's kind of funny now, but then I was bawling like a baby. It's hard when it's not what you do that is the problem but who you are. Anyway, he told us that it was because we were relying 80 to 90 percent on ourselves, and we needed to rely on the Spirit—which I do have a testimony of. But I was just wondering, how do you best feel the Spirit when you're teaching? How do you plan enough but not so much that the Spirit can't get in? And also, just how do you feel the Spirit in your lives? That's what I've really been working on this week.

I am the Music Coordinator, which is funny, since I don't have to do anything besides training the next one. Thank you General Conference and Easter! Ha ha. That's okay though. In our district, we have a district leader obviously, and then we have the Zone Leaders and the Coordinating Sisters. Sister Steed and I are the only ones not really in leadership and the only ones who don't have to go to their meetings. So when they have them, we get extra study time, which I love! It's nice to be by ourselves, too. Yesterday, we did Companion Inventory which was awesome. It's good to have someone who loves you tell things that can help you be a better servant of the Lord. One of the things we've talked about is that I need to talk slower, so if she feels like it, she can jump in.

Hey, Boom, remember when you sent me a joke and I read it out loud to my district before I read it to myself? Yeah, that was really embarrassing for me. But also, I laughed really hard....sh.....

For Easter Sunday, we all got to have this giant combined meeting. We had Sacrament Meeting/Fast and Testimony Meeting (Yes, I fasted until 6 p.m. and it was AWESOME) and in our giant meeting we got the sacrament. To 3,000 missionaries. It was an incredible thing to be a part of, kind of like when Jesus fed the 5,000 or whatever. It was cool. A member of the Presiding Bishopric, Brother Caussé, came and spoke to us. He was really good. We also got to go see Sherri Dew in a devotional that was amazing. In the beginning of it, we did this version of “Called to Serve” where we started out really soft and then it got louder and we all stood up and just belted it out. I've never felt so much like I'm part of an army, a wave, of new missionaries. Speaking of which, we have 3,000 missionaries this week, and they said they are soon expecting to have 5,000 missionaries in two separate locations. WOW! That is so many missionaries. The work is moving forward, and the best part is, I can be a part of it! I feel really inadequate to do the work, but I know that God can strengthen and help me. He helps us in our righteous desires. And he will help me as I continue to try and teach other people.

Also, one of my teachers, Sister Taylor, just married Stephen Taylor! So that is really cool, and she's one of the sweetest people I've ever met.

The food isn't too bad. The wrap line has been the best so far, and I haven't even tried the orange juice. But someone in my class did, the other day, I think. And nobody thanked them for it. Yuck.

Last night, we got to go see Elder Bednar's MTC address on the "Character of Christ." I think you can only get access to it in the MTC, and I seriously have never felt a better message or heard a better talk from him. It was just incredible. Every day, I learn something here that makes me want to change my life. And that is just the beginning. The desire to change. And change comes with desire. I know that's true.

So, with the Spirit, this is what I've been thinking. My teacher, Brother Gochis, keeps telling us that when we can't think of anything to say, to just pray and have the Holy Ghost help us. When I can't think of anything, I pray and pray and I just can't feel anything. It's hard because I so badly want to teach with the Spirit. And I know that I don't know the investigator, but God does, so if I am His mouthpiece then He can tell me what to say. But I can't feel anything! And that's hard. I have cried and wondered a lot about this, wondering if I really do know what it's like to feel the Spirit and wondering why I gave my farewell talk on inspiration when I feel like I don't know anything about it! But here's the thing: I've realized that the way that I can feel the Spirit--maybe the only way so far--is through comfort. When I pray and feel the Spirit, I feel comforted. When I listened to Elder Bednar, I felt like I could change but I didn't feel overwhelmed. I felt the Spirit comforting me. And when I listen to my teacher Sister Taylor, I feel comforted. So, as of yet, this is the way I can feel the Spirit. The Celestial Room isn't a place where I really feel inspiration. I feel the Spirit COMFORTING me there. And I think that the more we recognize the Spirit in that way, the more ways He can bless us. Elder Bednar encouraged us to ask God to tutor us in the way that we feel the Spirit. So I've been asking God for a lot of tutoring. And sometimes I can't tell if I answer, or if He answers. But if it's good, then it comes from God.

Sister Taylor told us that one way to keep recognizing the Spirit is that if you feel any kind of prompting, if it's good then to do it! She says even if it's buttering toast upside down. Even if it wasn't from the Spirit, if it's good, then you are allowing God to see that you trust Him enough to do something, even if it seems silly. So this week I've been trying that. If I feel like I should say something, then I say it. If I try to love someone more, I pray for it. Yesterday, I felt like I should write "Happy Birthday Sister Jones" on the board to one of our sisters whose birthday it was. It turned out a whole bunch of people, including President Cutler--our branch president--signed it, and I think it meant a lot to her. So that's one way I'm trying to show God that I want His Spirit. And that He can trust me with it.

I also think that the Lord is trying my patience. Because I have an awesome companion, He is making it so I have a hard time with something--namely, teaching with the Spirit--so I will be humble. Because I promise you, all the things that I thought I was good at I could definitely improve. I have so much room for growth. I have so much room for being a better leader, a better follower, a better companion, a more mature missionary, a more obedient missionary, and a more effective missionary. The more I keep my covenants, the more I will learn about the nature of God. He wants to bless all of His children as long as we are willing to do the things that will warrant those blessings. As my branch president says, "Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles!"

Something that I laughed my head off about was in Elder Bednar's talks. He was talking about becoming truly converted to the gospel. When we are truly converted and don't merely have a testimony, we will never fall away. Anyway, he said, "Whenever someone comes up in sacrament meeting and says, "When my ancestor came across with the Martin and Willie Handcart Company," I silently cringe to myself and think, "That's great. What have YOU done lately?" Haha! I thought that was so funny.

Moral of the story: Be happy. The gospel is true. I have gained such strength in my testimony the last week. I know that God takes us away from our families to help us grow. Because when the only family member we truly have is the Lord, we can only turn to Him for strength. And He wants to give us strength. He wants us to be happy! He wants us to serve other people and stop thinking about ourselves. He wants us to keep the Spirit with us, by being obedient and by looking for the good in other people as well as ourselves. I pray for our family every night.

The Church is true! Now go preach it by the way that you live!

Love,

Sister Baby Girl

P.S.  I love getting letters. It feels so good to get hard copies of letters, because I can read them a million times! 

Letter # 1

Hey Mom and Dad,

Gotta be quick, but I’m safe, happy and healthy!  My companion is awesome and is from Alberta, Canada.  I would totally be her friend outside the MTC.  My district is cool—four sisters and four elders.  There is no MTC choir for conference which is sad.  L P-day is on Monday.  I just had an interview with a member of the branch presidency and it was awesome.  I miss you a lot but I’m praying a lot.  Also I love you.  I will e-mail more on Monday.

Love,

Sister Baby

P.S. I haven’t gotten any letters yet if you’ve sent them.  We should get our district leader tonight.

Entering the MTC

Pictures of the day Amanda entered the MTC.