Dear Family,
The quote for this week's
e-mail title came from Sister Allen. She came on exchanges with me from
Glasgow, and she's only been on her mission for about four months. She has been out of her area only twice.
Glasgow has a really distinct smell that I love (sort of like toast and drugs
mixed) and so she thought Irvine smelled so funny when we got off the train.
She thinks it smells like a farm, and she remembered that from her last
exchange here. I thought that was so funny, and it's also pretty true.
I am doing fairly well. I
am still loving Irvine and the work and I absolutely love Sister Jones. I love
our sisters, and I love our friends here, especially Davey and Thomas. I love
being a missionary and it's still the best job in the world. And the best part?
The gospel is still true and so it's fun to share it with other people.
This week had a unique
challenge to it. (Side note: I keep thinking how applicable mission challenges
are to life challenges. So many things that we struggle with or do here are the
same things that we need to learn to overcome in life. I don't think I realized
that would be the case. But anyway.) The Paisley ZLs, the District Leaders, and
Sister Jones and I had come up with the challenge to give away 201 copies of
the Book of Mormon in the Paisley Zone in a week. We had done this previously
with 200 copies of the Book of Mormon, and it was one of the most successful
weeks in our zone. So we did it again, and the success was just not coming. Our
teams weren't handing out books and the whole idea of the exercise—creating
excitement in the zone and gaining new investigators—seemed like it had
completely failed. We were a bit discouraged and tried to figure out where we
had failed. In the end, we just had to explain to the teams what we were doing
and why we were doing it, and the situation improved. People started handing
out more books. We all wondered, though, why it didn't go the same way that it
had before, with the success being so overwhelming and rapid. Well, our friend
Brother Gillardi told us that it didn't go the same because life experiences
don't go the same. Even if we do the exact same thing, things need to change so
that we can grow and learn. What would be the point if we always did the same
thing and got the same results? There really wouldn't be any. So we should be
grateful that life changes and that we change with it. :)
Currently, we are working
on increasing our progressing investigator pool. Our progressing investigators
just became recent converts, and so we're going through and trying to figure
out the most effective way to use our time. That is my transfer goal: to work
on managing my time more effectively.
Right now we have nine or ten investigators and two progressing. We're
working on helping them progress and enter the waters of baptism, but most of
these people are a bit slower in their progress and so patience is required—as
it so often is.
Davey buys us groceries
every week (which we always tell him he shouldn't, but he always does). So he
always asks us if we are cooking, since he buys us mince and chicken and steak
and things. And we tell him that we are! We have made chicken twice which is
good and my cooking skills are still less-than-average. But what do you do?
Have I ever told you about Scottish lasagna? It is the best stuff in the
world.
Our recent convert,
Michael, who was baptized when I was in Irvine for the first time, taught us
the Restoration Lesson this week. Because he is preparing for a mission, we
thought it would be a good idea for him to get ready and teach us. He did such
a good job, and I was so proud of him. It also strengthened my faith that
people are prepared and ready to receive the gospel. Often they just don't know
where to find it. And it's our job to find them and help them find the gospel
so that they can find a place in the Celestial Kingdom with our Father in
Heaven.
We realized this week
that we are going to be quite busy for the rest of the transfer.
This week:
· Exchange with Ayr on
Monday to Tuesday night.
· Exchange with East
Kilbride on Wednesday morning to Thursday morning.
· Exchange with Hamilton on
Friday to Saturday.
· Splits with Ruth and
Sheryl on Saturday afternoon.
· Sunday is church and
being together.
· Monday P-day.
· Next Tuesday and
Wednesday are Paisley and Glasgow zone and interview training.
· Friday is Mission
Leadership Council.
· Monday is the practice in
Edinburgh for the Easter Concert.
· Wednesday we need to turn
in our Eye of Faith.
· That weekend is General
Conference.
· The next week is the
Easter Concert, and the end of the week is moves call.
I am so grateful to be
busy. I am grateful for the experiences that I'm being blessed with to learn
valuable life skills but also to further the work here in Irvine.
But sometimes I get a bit
stressed. And I've been a bit stress-sick lately. Last night we had to go to Lorna's and lay on
the ground because I had such an upset stomach and just needed to throw up. So
luckily we were by Lorna and she took care of me! She is really the best and we
are so lucky to know her.
I found this quote this
week and I just love it. It's really given me cause to ponder.
“For it God is a socially
conscious political being whose views invariably correspond to ur own
prejudices on every essential point of doctrine, he demands of us no more than
our politics require. Besides, if God is
finite, progressive, and Pure Love, we may as well skip church next Sunday and
go to the movies. For if we have nothing
to fear from this all-loving, all-forbearing, all-forgiving God, how would our
worship of him constitute more than self-congratulation for our own moral
standards? As an atheist, I like this God. It is good to see him every morning while I
am shaving” (Eugene D. Genovese, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” The New Republic, 11 May 1992, page 38; emphasis added).
Really interesting.
Anyway. I love you all so
very much! Use are the best ever! (That was me making fun of the Scottish
spelling. They say You with an S on the end to make it plural, like saying you
guys. But then they sometimes spell it use. I just think that's
hilarious!)
Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Ricks
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