Dearest Family,
We're going to play
Two Truths and a Lie here:
1. Scotland is
roasting hot right now.
2. Prince Charles is
apparently in Dundee, Scotland trying to get away from all the press
about Princess Kate and such.
3. A random member in
our ward gave me a pair of shoes this week.
Haha. I've never been
very good at that game. What do you do?
Funny stories:
Every week we
have FHE at Granny Green's home. She is the lady who threw the American 4th
of July Party. Anyway, different people
come, but this week Glen MaC-- came! He hasn't been to FHE, or to church, in a
long time because his girlfriend wasn't a fan. But they broke up and so he is
back. Funny how that works. Anyway, we ran into him on last Sunday and we were
so excited to see him on Monday evening. He is mostly blind. He holds things
really close to one of his eyes because that is the only one that he can see
out of. That's a lot of background for a story that is maybe not so funny if
you weren't there. There you go. At the end of FHE, we always have snacks, and
so we all had plates where we would put our snacks. Somebody brought chocolate muffins
this week, so I had one on my plate. Brother MaC-- came and stood by me, and I
guess he couldn't tell what was what, because he just started eating the
chocolate muffin off my plate. I felt so awkward because I didn't know whether
to just start a new plate or wait until he was finished with the muffin and
then grab my plate. I had no idea and so I was just laughing and laughing and
Sister Jones didn't know why until after FHE. That was what was so funny: that
he stole my muffin. Luckily, he didn't even notice that he'd made a mistake and
so he walked away, and I got the rest of my plate and grabbed a new muffin. It
was so funny.
We have been finding
SO much this week because everybody is sick or on holiday. And nobody on the
street wants to listen to us. But I taught an awesome lesson to a tree while we
were waiting at a bus stop and nobody else was around. Mr. Tree even accepted a
baptismal date, my first one ever! It was an awesome lesson with a scripture
and a commitment. Go, fight, win! That's what I always say, along with my good
friend Edna Mode.
Cool stuff:
I don't know if I've
told you this before, but the bishop here, Bishop Cook, has a 2-year-old diabetic
son. His name is Adam and he is so cute. This week we had dinner with them
(even though the bishop wasn't there, but that's another story) and I got to
hear all about how it is to be a mom with a diabetic child. I think I will
probably have one someday, so that was awesome to hear about. He doesn't mind
the pokes or the pump. He is doing really well. And they gave me a book that
would have been SO nice to have, especially when I had just been diagnosed. It
has pictures of common foods and how many carbs are in them. It has them on a
plate, so you can see what the serving size looks like rather than always
having to measure, though it has measurements too. It's nice and helpful, and
it was so fun when she handed me my plate and told me exactly how many carbs
were in it. You don't get that anywhere else. That was awesome!
We were walking to
try by some former investigators, and Sister Jones remembered that a less-active
lady who had just had surgery lived near. We thought she would still be in the
hospital, but could pop by and ask her son how she was doing. Luckily, she was
home! She was really nice and was pleased that we had visited. I'd never met
her, and it was nice to meet her and have a little lesson with her. Tender
mercy there for sure—Heavenly Father prompting Sister Jones to visit someone
who needed a visit. It's awesome to be a missionary.
We went out finding
on Saturday afternoon and we decided to go to a gigantic park. That was good
because loads of people were out and about, (oot and aboot if you're Scottish)
but since everybody was wearing little pieces of clothing, it wasn't super
effective time to go because everybody was having a good day at the park and
wasn't wanting us to stop them. That's normal. But one cool thing came of it:
there was a cricket match with teenage boys playing, and we wanted to watch for
a minute because we'd never really seen a cricket game. I went up to two ladies
and asked them how it was played. They
told us about it and we chatted for a wee while and then went away. We didn't
talk about the gospel or anything, but we made a friend for the church and
someday they will remember that. :) I'm sure of it!
I was able to give a
talk in sacrament meeting about “How the Holy Ghost Helps me Learn.” I learned
so much from the talk. The Holy Ghost is awesome. One thing I relearned is that
the Holy Ghost sanctifies us. Through the Atonement, the Holy Ghost is the
sanctifyer. I am trying to understand it more. The really cool part of the talk
came when we went to Sister Black's a bit early before teaching Brother Smith
at her house. She is the sweetest lady, one of my very favorites here, but she
has a hard time getting around. The only time she gets out is to go to church,
and this week nobody picked her up. I guess there was some kind of
miscommunication. So I sat next to her and gave her my talk. She loved it and
was so complimentary. At the end of the lesson with Brother Smith, she asked me
if I could make her a copy of my talk and if she could put it in the ward history.
She said it was really good. That was nice!! She is such a sweet lady.
That was basically my
week! It's been a big week, and I've just scratched the surface. Missionary
work is so good. It's great to be a full-time missionary, and it's even greater
to be a member missionary! Bringing up the gospel is easy if we are truly
converted, and it's important to always strive to find people to talk to about the
gospel. Everybody needs the gospel and it can bless all of God's children, and
as we do our best to be instruments in His hands, He can bless us.
When the journey is
long and life seems hard, remember that Heavenly Father is just molding us into
what He sees we can become. As D. Todd Christofferson said, "For your
freedom to be complete, you must be willing to give away all your sins, your
willfulness, your cherished but unsound habits, perhaps even some good things
that interfere with what God sees is essential for you." Some things that
we do aren't bad, but aren't what God has in store for us. His plan is the
greatest for us. As we strive to trust Him in all that we do, giving up the
things that aren't part of the plan, we will eventually make it into His arms and
remain there for as long as we wish. I am so excited for that day!
I love the Lord and
the gospel! The Church is true--I promise!
Love,
Sister Amanda Ann
Ricks
P.S. Oh and the title
of this e-mail is just something random that Sister Jones and I have been
saying. Sometimes it smells weird in funny places.
No comments:
Post a Comment