Well hello there!
Congratulations to
Whitney and Benjamin for making it to Africa properly! Sounds like quite the
ordeal, and I am glad that all has gone well. Hooray!
Moves call was this week.
Sister Kline is leaving me, and I am seriously so gutted about it. She is off
to Dublin to be the STL there with Sister Lowry. I am getting a companion who
came out one move after me, Sister Jones (a different one than I served with
before) and she sounds great. I know she went to BYU before her mission, and
she is a great singer. She has super curly hair and is really cute and just
finished training. She's been in Montrose her whole mission (in the Dundee
Zone) and so I'm sure this will be a brilliant transfer.
But. I would be lying if
I didn't say how disappointed I am that Sister Kline is leaving. I know that
progress really only happens with change, but that doesn't always make it easy.
You may or may not have been able to tell, but I have grown, by far, more in
these last three months in Irvine than at any other point in my mission. Irvine
is sacred ground for me in that way because my testimony, my self-worth, and my
capacities as a missionary have increased. I absolutely love Sister Kline, and
I love our friends here. I'm happy to be staying, but I am so sad that one of
my very best friends in this world is leaving me. It's hard. But it's good. God
knows what he is doing, and that brings me comfort.
So. This week was Stake
Conference. What a spiritual feast it
was! The theme was "Hastening the Work of Salvation" which is clearly
the best theme in the world, and so that was brilliant. My two-minute talk went
something like this:
"I remember when
President Monson lowered the age for missionary service. There was such a
feeling of excitement about as I, and several of my friends, turned in our
mission papers and came on our missions. What an exciting time to be a
missionary! There are more missionaries now than at any other point in the world.
In my group, 14 sisters came out as opposed to the one or two who would come
out in previous transfers. As President Holland said, ‘The Spirit of this work
is urgency, and we must give our missionaries and members that spirit of
growth. We must move rapidly. We must kick things up a notch. The drama is
unfolding and we must do whatever it takes to hasten the work.’ The work is
surely being hastened, as shown here, but I think sometimes we forget why the
work is being hastened.
“The ‘why’ behind this is
seen in an example from my young life. I remember a time my Mum asked us to go
sell wee pumpkins that we had grown to our neighbours. I don't even remember
what they were called, but I remember being less than enthused at the prospect.
We went door to door, not because we wanted to but to please our mum and
eventually the pumpkins were gone. These days, I do the same kind of activity,
chapping from door to door, but my attitude is very different. This attitude shift
is precisely why the work of salvation is being hastened--because the work that
we are involved in is true. It can bless every life. And when we think of the
why behind the hastening, we will surely want to share the gospel with our
family members and friends."
I don't know. It was
something like that, anyway. Remember those pumpkins, Boomey and Whit? What are
those things called? [Jack-be-littles]
But the BEST part of
Conference was when President Yates spoke. He is an excellent orator in
general, and hearing him speak about missionary work was incredible. It was
even better because he spoke all about Davey—how they were neighbours and how
he felt so terrible that he had never shared the gospel. He explained how he gave us the shortbread
and cards, and how we met Davey, and then he got baptized. He was highly
complimentary, but in essence, it was mostly amazing because he just spoke
about a personal experience of missionary work. That is a much better talk than
someone standing and speaking about missionary work when you know they haven't
actually done it. He said a few things (well, let's be honest, I took about two
pages of notes purely on what he said) that were really profound and made me so
excited to be a missionary.
The hard thing about
conferences is that often members think that being a good example is the way to
do missionary work. That is true; it is
often the first step. But being a good example, even if the person knows you're
a member of the church, isn't enough. Extending an invitation is the way to do
missionary work. Whether or not they accept your invitation, you are successful
if you invite. But if we just live our lives and hesitate to share the gospel,
we are ultimately being the most selfish we can be: holding in the thing that
is the very most precious thing to us and showing Heavenly Father that we don't
think His plan is good enough to share with those that we care about.
Off my soap box. I swear.
I just have really strong feelings about these kinds of things. I really want
to continue to be a missionary when I get home. I want to be a kingdom-builder!
Other things that
happened this week: Mission Leadership Conference! Best day EVER! I seriously
loved it and learned a lot. We had a man named President Watson come (he is the
Dundee Stake President) and teach us about leadership. He showed us the
quadrant thingme from Stephen Covey's book, I believe, about how we should
spend our time in certain quadrants. I don't know if that made any sense but it
was smashing, and I learned a lot. Being stressed and busy over things that are
really important doesn't mean that you are successful. It just means that you
are stressed and busy and that can take a toll.
We went to Dundonald
Castle last P-day. That was fun. It was pretty. Castles are everywhere here.
An update on T--: he is
getting baptized this next Thursday! That will be really good. He came to six
hours of church this weekend, and he is still excited to be baptized. If that's
not an indication of commitment, I don't know what is. He really is doing well
though, and is probably the sweetest man that ever lived. He sends us
Post-Lesson Texts (kind of like PDT's) and says how he feels the Spirit and
prays for us and everything. It's amazing that he turned from a man who we had
a first appointment with when he was very drunk, to someone who is preparing to
receive the ordinance of baptism. Reminds me that I have no room to judge and
that everyone is the same in Heavenly Father's eyes.
"Progress is
impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change
anything." --Lawrence E. Corbridge
I really love being a
missionary. Did you know that? It is the best calling in the world, the most
fulfilling thing that I could be doing. The best part is that every member of
this church is entitled to the same blessings of missionary service. So go out
and get some blessings! :)
Love you all!
Sister Amanda Ann Ricks
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