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
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