President Brown Called Me Ditzy

Dearest Family,

Do you want to know why President Brown called me a ditz? Because I am. 

On Monday, we went to Edinburgh for our Easter Concert practice. We took a train from Irvine to Glasgow Central and then on to Edinburgh. As we approached Edinburgh, Sister Jones and I both realized that we forgot our bags on our initial train from Irvine to Glasgow Central. Oops! So then we had to make a whole bunch of phone calls and figure out how to get our bags and send some missionaries back to Glasgow to get our bags and my insulin. Luckily they did and we were all okay. But … sometimes I wonder if I'm ever going to stop doing stupid things like that. Probably not. :) 

The practice in Edinburgh was good. This concert is going to be stellar, I'm pretty sure! I am still rubbish at playing the Hallelujah Chorus on the piano but I am doing my best. (Side note: Do you remember the recording that Daniel sent us, I think, about the Messiah Organist on Crack. I think about that all the time and how funny it was.) We are singing some songs that will be magic and it all seems like it's going to be ace. 

The two most fun parts of the practice: On Tuesday morning, a few of us woke up early and we went and played football on a field by the mission home. It was so fun. It was amazingly muddy and a few people came over without any shoes on because they still wanted to play. We were all so muddy and gross and falling down but it was so much fun! I miss doing things like that, and morning exercise was super fun when everybody was playing around. The other fun thing was when we had been singing for ages and so then we went to sing the Hallelujah Chorus and I was joking around and started playing it really fast … and then the choir decided to sing really fast too and we sang it all at mega-speed. It was amazing. :) So fun!

We did some training at a District Leader Council on Friday and talked about symbiosis in companionships. And we talked about cookies: mostly because we wanted them to like us and our training so we took them food which works every time. We talked about how in cookies, flour needs to be flour and eggs need to be eggs and if either turned into the other, we'd just have a pile of flour or scrambled eggs. Likewise, in companionships (or in families, or in business practices, or in marriages, or in friendships) we have a unique role to play and we need to be ourselves but work in harmony and have the correct amount so that the finished product will be delicious. The training went well and they all liked the cookies, so that was happy. We haven't been eating chocolate to try and help Thomas stop smoking, so we didn't have any, but they looked sure-boss-thing nice.

I started to have a bit of the cold this week, which clearly wasn't okay because I didn't want to sleep through General Conference, so we took a few preventative measures. I slept a bit and took Vitamin C, and then Lorna made some spicy chicken noodle Japanese soup for us and I took a bath filled with essential oils and sort of just sweated a whole bunch after. Is it a real thing to sweat out sickness? I'm not sure, but I've felt better ever since. 

General Conference Was Amazing. We went to different members’ and investigators’ homes. It was funny because Ann, who was a new investigator this week, didn't really understand what we were doing there and just thought we were watching a program. So she talked through the whole thing. Ask me how happy I was when she had us come help her with dinner during Elder Holland's talk. Not Happy, Bob. So when we went to Lorna's for the Saturday afternoon session on Sunday morning, she played us his talk first.  Then I felt better. :)

Ann was funny and I think I just assumed she would magically feel the Spirit powerfully because General Conference is full of it. After the prophet spoke, she said, "Wow, it sounds like he just can't get a full breath" and talked about his voice rather than his message. It reminded me that you're not going to feel the Spirit if you don't go with the attitude of receiving it. It's like in church as soon as the time is up for the meeting to be done, I can feel myself stop feeling the Spirit. It's not that it's not there anymore, it's because I choose to be frustrated and stop feeling it.  Moral of the story: we get out what we take to meetings, generally. 

I just loved General Conference though. I am pretty sure that the General Authorities thought "What does Sister Ricks need?" and then they wrote General Conference. Probably not, but the Spirit definitely prompted a lot of things that I needed to hear and generally just needed reminding of. Particularly about love and how it should be the motivating force behind everything that we do and that real disciples feel love for everybody, especially the Savior and Heavenly Father. 

I don't know if everybody caught it, but I loved the bit of General Conference where they talked about each member having a copy of and studying Preach My Gospel and sending their thoughts to their missionaries. I think that would be really great. :) 

Mostly, I loved General Conference and it made me think about each of you. What messages were you getting? How were you feeling? What kind of toppings were you putting on your crepe? :) Haha. It's amazing that the Spirit, through General Conference and through our impressions, can answer the questions of our soul. That is amazing and when pondered is something that is only true of our Church. It's true! I know it! 

I love you all! Have a great week! Read Preach My Gospel--I dare you! 

Love,

Sister Amanda Ann Ricks