Hey there,
This week has been
quite good, I would say! We've been visiting W--- a lot, with one of our
members, Sister McGowan. He is awesome and Sister McGowan is great for coming
with us. W--- is just a funny ol' chap. I think the main reason that he wants
to meet with us is because he is lonely and wants friends, which we are willing
to be. He randomly has really strong opinions about gospel principles. But he
also really does seem to want to learn, and he's always telling us how smart we
are to know all of these things. He digests what we tell him like he would at
school. He also has been listening to the Book of Mormon, since he has double
vision and can't read very well. He thinks praying is weird, and so we hope to
help him with that soon. He didn't come to church yesterday because he was too
tired, probably because he goes out and does karaoke on Saturday nights. :) Bah
ha! But he did tell us that he went out on Sunday. He sent a letter at the Post
and he lubricated his car hood because he just bought a car since it was such a
good deal. He's not even sure that he can drive it yet. Haha. We call him or
see him every day, and when we call it takes about 15 minutes to confirm an
appointment. Scots seem to be like that. They are a chatty bunch once you get
them going. I love W-- though. I love to go and teach him the gospel. He is
lonely and needs the gospel to fill his life with friends who desire his
salvation. We are two of those friends, and I'm so lucky to be able to be that
friend for him!
Funny story: Do you
remember that cute yellow sweater that I went into the MTC with? Well in our
flat, the washer is awful. It's so bad and sometimes our clothes come out
smelling worse than when they went in. But, back to the yellow sweater--it is a
cute shade of puke green now. Beauty. Mmm.
My companion let me
go running one time this week. I was so happy. I have never been so happy to
run around a muddy football field a million times. It seriously felt so good--way
better than situps and squats on the bed. Well, situps on the bed. Squats on
the floor, though perhaps I should try them on the bed. :)
Funny story about our
beds: They are terrible. I have never had a worse bed. :) BUT we got duvets
from the mission home and put them on our beds last night! And I tell you what,
they are delightful! We also had our heating and electricity go out this week,
but after a few days of no heat we got it taken care of! And a nice lady in our
branch brought us over a portable fireplace! Who knew such a thing existed?
We're going to make her a treat today and take it to her. She has been very
kind.
We talked to a guy in
City Centre this week. Initially, he was way annoyed that we were there and
said religious people are so annoying. But then he started chatting with us and
telling us all about his beliefs, which were kind of psycho. He said that
Noah's ark didn't really happen and that it only happened inside us. Same with
Jesus' birth. Anyway, we were just chatting with him and saying that it was
interesting even though we believe very different things. In the process, he
looked at me and said, "You are very nice. I bet you could convert
anybody. You could convert them to paganism if you wanted." Not exactly
the message we wanted to send, but at least he was very nice!
Later that same
evening, we met a man named D--- who had a crazy scar on his face from a prison
fight. We were talking about religion and asked him about God when he started
talking about the bus schedule and how dumb it was that the time was off for
him to get to Glasgow. Anyway, we asked if we could get his number to give to
the Glasgow elders, and he said he would rather visit us at our flat. He was
kind of creepy and so we just told him to have a good night and walked away!
But we did pray with him so we got to count it as a lesson. KA CHOW!
Sister McN--- is
doing great. She had a really hard week since her son stole money from her to
keep doing drugs. She had to call the police and it was this big mess. Anyway,
she is a stress smoker but she didn't turn for cigarettes--she turned to her
Book of Mormon for comfort! How awesome is that! Then she fed us. :) She gave
us soup (which is always filling and should really be the main meal, but then
they just keep piling up more food), potatoes and minced meat with vegetables.
I was trying to eat like the Scots, with the fork in my left hand and using my
right hand to always be pushing stuff onto my fork with my knife. It's
difficult and I sort of look like an idiot. Then she brought us apple pie with
ice cream and then more ice cream to have iron brew floats! They were so yummy!
But I was also so full. Talk about a food baby.
We had zone meetings
this week. It was funny having to go back to the mission home and have
interviews with the president since I am just barely out, but it really was
good. When we went down to the station, we ended up meeting a member, Rosa, who
didn't know where church was but is still interested in the church and
everything. She had this really cute son with the biggest eyes I've ever seen.
So sweet! Anyway, we're going to try to stop by and visit her sometime when she
isn't working.
Fun fact:
All Scots seem to text using abbreviations. And since they speak differently,
their abbreviations are off. Like they will say "us guys canny cum"
for like you guys can come! It is pretty funny. Another lady texted us telling
us her "m8" had asked her to help them out. Luckily we get texting in
Scotland. They don't have it in Ireland, and it's a nice way to confirm
appointments without having to call people.
We went to zone conference
and it was just great. We talked all about obedience, which is basically what
every talk is on in the mission field. I'm starting to wonder in what ways
people are disobedient, since we talk about it so much. President Brown says
that we have to be extra obedient as a protection because Satan hates his
missionaries. I totally believe that. I went to the doctor after the meetings
and everything went fine. I'm not
worried about it at all. They do have One Touch Strips and the kind of insulins
that I need.
They gave me a curling
iron, straightener, and a blow dryer at the mission home! Yay for not having to
buy any!
I have exchanges this
week from Tuesday to Thursday, so that should be nice.
Cool experience from
this week: We were going to visit this lady and we ended up on the wrong side
of where we were supposed to be. Sister Nicoll had just gotten confused. So we
figured that we had been led there for a reason (there was a less active there
as well that we tried to visit, but she wasn't home) and started chapping. Nobody
was interested. We had a lot of slammed doors. So when it was time, we headed
back, wondering why we were sent there when it wasn't successful. On our way
back, we met a boy who was going to band rehearsal. He'd never tried religion
and so we were able to give him a pamphlet! We also do a Who, What, Where, and
When investigator that we want to meet every day and he was exactly what we had
been looking for. That was really awesome. He is going to be a famous Mormon
someday.
On Saturday we walked
for 4 hours straight and for probably 14 miles. I have a blister because of it.
:)
Yesterday, we went
and visited M---, a less active. I asked if, since I was new in the field, I
could teach her about the Plan of Salvation. Turns out she really wants to live
with her dead “gran” again someday and wants to make it to the temple. We want
to help. We're going to read the Book of Mormon with her. :) She's kind of a
big lady and she told me that she thinks she has diabetes because all she wants
recently is candy, and she has been drinking 4 iron brews and tons of water. I
told her I know exactly how that is :) She also told me that I have
"bra" hair (roll the R). Apparently that means beautiful. How nice.
I love personal and
companionship study time. Seriously, I love to be able to study as often as we
do. It really helps bring the Spirit when we implement the things we learn
through PMG and through the Twelve-Week Training program. I can tell that
it enhances our work.
Funny thing: The
second day in the field I was all about chapping. I wanted to chap everywhere.
Then, this week, I've just dreaded it! I hate tracting! One night I was
particularly discouraged because nobody was listening. I got to thinking, “We
get to be more like the Savior when we chap doors! When people reject us, we
understand a little bit more about the Savior! When he stands there and knocks,
and knows someone is inside but isn't coming out, that must be really annoying.
We have the privilege of doing the same thing!” So these days every time
someone rejects us, I just think "Wow, I'm so lucky that I get to be more
like the Savior today." Pretty awesome. Aren't we lucky to belong to His
church?
I think about you and
pray for you all the time!
Love,
Sister Ricks
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