Up in the Girdle

Dearest Family, 

Picture of me as I leave in the mornings: giant sleeping bag marshmallow coat with two scarves and a smaller coat underneath; a pair of tights with long socks overlaid; followed by my big black boots. Boy, I am just ready to face the world when I go out in the morning! :) 

But really, the weather has been hilarious recently. One of our friends was telling us that she came inside and it was sunny out, and she thought, "I should take out the bins." So she came into the kitchen from outside, walked out to take out the bins, and it was raining. Scottish weather--4 seasons in one day! :) 

Some stuff from this week: 

We were teaching a new investigator named S-- in the library. This was our first appointment with him after stopping him on the street a few weeks ago. We were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation, and he seemed pretty distracted.  He was just not too bothered by anything. Then at the end, I asked him how old he was. I thought he was about 16 from the looks of him. Turns out he was 13!!!!!!!!! Turns 14 in March. So if he continues to learn, we would have to get permission from his parents. How funny is that? I don't know why it cracked me up but it just did. So weird. 

A—J--, our lovely investigator whose son is the YM President of the ward, is seriously the best lady ever. She said that she would work towards being baptized on March 1, but she wants to set a date when she is totally ready, because she wants to be 100% committed. She is dead brilliant, and she lives in the most beautiful place in the world: Troon. Ah! I love her and our lessons with her are full of the Spirit. I love her! 

D-- is our neighbour investigator who was a referral from our Stake President. He is so wonderful and is still working towards 22 February for his baptismal date. He told us that he feels the same as he reads the Book of Mormon and the Bible, that he knows Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus, and that he thinks of Sister Kline and me as his "weens" (wee ones, like children) and loves it when we come by because it makes him feel good. He doesn't see that these are answers to his question about joining the church, and we're striving to help him understand. After he found out that we don’t drink coffee, he poured his down the drain. He is incredible! 

T-- is another investigator who is doing well. He came to church for the first time yesterday and is working for March 1. He has a bit of a rough past, but he is moving forward and says we are a "godsend." So that is awesome! 

It was L--'s birthday yesterday, which was so fun because she is the best ever! She is the one who lived in Arizona and then moved back to her home of Scotland. So she knows loads about both Scotland and Arizona, and hers is such a comfortable place to be at.

Also ... I've been going through the PMG lessons sentence by sentence and finding cross references for each. I can't find any scriptures about the Reformation. Does anybody know any? 

Also, it was Burns Night this week! And KIRSTY LANG came down from East Kilbride!!! Best day ever! I love her and she is just the best. When we went to meet our member for our JT, she said, "She came all the way from East Kilbride? She must really love you." I didn't know what to say because Kirsty is just the coolest and will be my friend for forever. I really love her. 

Also. I've started the last three paragraphs with "also." How annoying is that? But I was super excited because this week, Sister Kline and I met the Standard of Excellence--the numbers in our mission that we all strive to meet! There are different numbers for those at church, with a date, new investigators, etc.  We met them all! I am so happy and know the Lord is blessing us. 

The Church is definitely true! Today is my ten-month mark, and it is as true today as it was the day I started.   I can't believe that ten months have gone by, and I'm so looking forward to working my hardest in the next eight months. It makes me sad that I have such a short amount of time left, but I'll work my hardest to leave the Lord's message with everyone I come in contact with. 

Love,

Sister Amanda Ann Ricks

P.S. I forgot to mention. The second two hours of church were cancelled this week because the heater went out and it was too cold. So we only had sacrament meeting. Hahaha! Crazy stuff here in Scotland!