Can you see my gray hair?

Hello, Hello, Hello Family!

I am writing you as a new person--a wrinkly, grey-haired, arthritic, cat-loving, knitting, 21 YEAR OLD! I am soooooo old. The gap between 20 and 21 is much more than a year; it's a lifetime! :)

Really, though, I had a fantabulous birthday. It started when Sister Jackson woke up on her own at 4:45 and snuck out of our room to do some birthday stuff for me (apparently it's really hard to keep secrets from your companion) and since our flat is so creaky, she yoga-posed/army crawled out of the room. I so wish that I would have been awake to see it.  I woke up at 6:30 and got a call from our elders at 6:33 wishing me happy birthday. We did our usual morning exercise (a dance workout that I was totally rubbish at) and then Sister Jackson told me I couldn't leave my room until she said. So I sat in there and then when she said, I came down to her presents for me--a Pop-Tart breakfast complete with a candle popped into the middle and a cover for my study Book of Mormon. Ah! She is so sweet, and although the rest of my birthday was wonderful, this was my favorite part, because she'd gone into so much effort and secrecy to make these things for me. Oh my goodness, I just love her so much!

After we got ready and did some lesson plans, we headed out to a breakfast appointment. Yes, you read those words right. Breakfast Appointment. Do those exist? Not really. We were supposed to be studying, but when it's your birthday, you do things like having breakfast appointments. We went to the Rodgerses’ who had muffins, crumpets (which are really just big pancakes) and normal pancakes with skooshy cream, maple syrup (haven't had that in ages), honey, butter, etc. They also offered us Irn Bru but we just took it home because really, who has soda for breakfast? Come on! That was delightful!

When we got home from breakfast, the elders had broken into our flat and decorated it all for my birthday. There were balloons, streamers, candy everywhere, bubbles, presents, and a personal cake! That was really cool, and also made me wish I would have cleaned a bit better. Haha. It was also funny because they made Sister Jackson video-tape me and so I felt like a weirdo walking around the flat screaming about how cool everything was while I was being taped. Seriously, way fun though, and they'd been planning it all behind my back! Luckily I didn't know it was happening, because apparently Elder Shubin gave it away a bunch of times. Good thing I'm blonde, eh?

Yes, my bed is huge, eh?

Then we had a lightning fast weekly planning session, which was lucky because usually that is the worst time of the week! It was fun because it was interspersed with random people calling me to wish me happy birthday, including my ex-district leader, Elder Sewell, Knightswood Sisters, Hamilton, Motherwell, AP's, Stuart Churchilll, Kirsty, etc. That made it pretty fun, and also we were speedy quick! We'll pay for it next week, but again, it was my BIRTHDAY! :)

We then headed to Sylvia's, who had decorated her house for a birthday shindig. She is so sweet! She even bought me a present, and then had a delicious lunch of tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches with salad, soup, and then some birthday cake. (Fun fact: People here don't really bake. Desserts/puddings are always store bought). She is amazing, and the bracelet she bought me was so sweet. It had a bunch of wee hearts and then a big one and she said, "This bracelet is perfect for you, because all of these little hearts are ones you've touched, but the big heart is mine." How sweet is that? Ah, she's amazing!

 

With Sylvia! She is so funny

Birthday cake with Sylvia!

Then we had a joint teach with Brother McCafferty to P--. That was good, and she even said she'd come to church! She didn't end up coming, but at least she said she would. That's a step in the right direction. It was funny though, because when we were walking up to her, these girls stopped us and said, "Are you the Jesus People?" We looked at each other and said, "Yeah." One said "Is God real?" and we told her that He is and she said to her friends, "See? He is real!" and then they walked away. We should have given them a card or something, but when we heard her say that she believed in God in the same sentence as the f-word, we didn't try as hard as we perhaps should have. Haha.

Then we got lost on the way to the Murnos’ for dinner with the bishop and family. So we got picked up. And then we had my birthday dinner! It was delicious--fajitas, tacos, nachos, and birthday cheesecake! They had decorated as well and were so sweet. I absolutely love the Cooks, especially wee Diabetic Adam, who is a ball of fun. We have loads of fun together and always call each other, "You CHEEKY monkey!" and when anybody else tries to call him that, he says that Sister Ricks says that. Haha. Seriously, he's way fun though, and we had a blast altogether. Sister Cook even bought diabetic ice cream. She's awesome!

East Kilbride Missionaries at the Cook's!

 

Adam

We went to A--'s after, because she couldn't come to the party, so we told her all about it and then taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She is doing so well! She is thinking about when she's going to be baptised and seriously has such a strong testimony. She is absolutely amazing!!! She is also being a little missionary--she has given her friend a Book of Mormon and is giving her the pamphlets and is calling her "my new investigator." She's a better missionary than I am! I love her so much and we had a grand ol' time.

Then Sister McNally gave us a lift home because we'd missed the bus. And the next day she fed us another birthday dinner--crumb chicken, my absolute favorite!!! Then the cake she made was all these wee animals--sheep, cows, pigs--and they were stacked on top of each other so we all got one. She said the idea was to "feed my sheep." Haha. How cute is that? She's amazing!

At the end of the day, after I'd talked to Sister Ashdown and Sister Nicoll (yay!!!) we had the ginger wine that a lady had made us the night before. Coolest way to celebrate turning 21, and don't worry, it wasn't alcoholic! It was actually amazing how we met her. We were at this member's home, Sister McGlasghan, and her non-member sister came in and was really nice and invited us to dinner. It's not every day a non-member invites you over, especially for food, so we jumped at the chance! When we went, her house was beautiful and she cooked amazing food; we had shots of ginger wine and a delicious dinner. She knits all of these wonderful things and was just so nice and said she'd have us over again! She isn't really an investigator, but she likes us and is nice. So there you go! That's M--, and she is amazing.

 

With Sister McGlasghan 

Ginger wine. hahaha

Crumb Chicken...sooooo good

We like to iron. :)

Other stuff from this week:

We also went by this referral from the elders, and they'd given this lady a Family Proclamation. When we got there, she said she wasn't going to be converted but thought the Proclamation was amazing, is going to put it in her kitchen wall, and thinks that every religion believes all of those things. She was so chuffed with it, it was amazing! So much fun.

Mark I-- and Brother McCafferty came to church (Brother McCafferty was reactivated!!!) Yay! They both also came to Emma Cook’s (bishop's sweet daughter) baptism, and that was amazing. Sister Jackson and I were able to play a piano/viola duet while they changed for the confirmation, and it was wonderful and I felt the Spirit so strongly. It was an amazing day.

I'll end with my testimony of the Atonement. We were asked to write it in Zone Conference/Interview Training this week, and these were some of my thoughts:

The Atonement is an easy principle that is hard to understand. The Atonement does not balance mercy and justice for us, it simply ensures that the debt has been paid. It is always in our favor. We cease to be indebted to one who demands justice for personal victory and become debtors to the Merciful Being whose motivation is anything but personal and, in fact, is centered solely around our eternal satisfaction. When we understand the Atonement, we stop trying to "repay" the debt that we had, but rather we feel grateful that our debt is to the King of Mercy, the one who stands waiting and helping us to succeed. Our gratitude will be shown in our obedience, and our obedience will grant us more blessings and, indeed, more mercy. The scales are always tipped. We will never be even. But it was never the plan to be even. It was the plan to get to Heavenly Father, and the Atonement is the only way that we will get there.

The Church is true! I am so grateful to be a missionary! I love you all and hope you are happy!!!

Love,

Sister Amanda Ricks