Mrs. Fannypants

Dearest Family,

This morning, when I was running at the castle by our flat, I slipped and fell. It wasn't bad and it was just because the 15th Century stairs were a bit mossy and maybe it was a dumb idea to run on them, but on the other hand--how many times in my life will I get to go running five minutes from my flat on 15th Century stairs? So my skinned elbow is totally worth it. Aye! But I fell on my bum and hence the title of the e-mail. Also did you know "Fanny" is a really bad word over here? 

This week was pretty good. We have a wonderful investigator, D--, and she is progressing to be baptized on the 25 June. That will be a wonderful occasion particularly because Sister Pugh has never seen anybody baptized.  What a success.

Interesting note on success: Success does not come to us when other people choose to accept our message. Success is our choice. If we invite others to come unto Christ, we are successful. Successful missionaries/member missionaries do not necessarily have loads of baptisms. Successful missionaries/member missionaries invite loads of people and therein lies their success. Same principle is true of life but I'm going to take off my preacher hat now.

We had a good Ward Council meeting this week. It reminded me that really missionaries are pawns and the ward drives the work. We can't do it on our own. And they can't do it without us. We aren't really helping each other--we are helping the Lord, because it's His work and we're just small helpers! So that was a good reminder. 

We were ready to catch our bus, the 7, a few minutes early because it’s a bit temperamental and tends to be either early or late. So we were there early and it didn't come for 30 minutes. We were on the way to an appointment that we could not be late for and were freaking out, and I felt the whole time like we should call our amazing RS president, S. Sharff.  We did and she came to our rescue, picked us up, and dropped us off in a good amount of time so we could do some good chapping and find some potentials. I loved that and was so grateful to her! She is the sweetest ever. She also gave us some Cath Kidston bags this week because I told her how much I loved hers. That is a huge deal. Ah! She is just brilliant and lovely and I want to be like her one day.

Also we had a great Dinner Appointment with the Fellows--they are all diabetic so the majority of the people at the dinner appointment were diabetic! It was cool to talk about with people who know what's going on. Then they gave me strawberries and ice cream for dessert instead of what everybody else got. The strawberries here are delicious, so I wasn't complaining. But the best part was that they gave me DIET BARQUE'S. I haven't had Root Beer in ages, and it was so so so delicious. Ah, the sweet fluid running down my throat increased the happiness in my soul and in my heart! ;) But seriously. It tasted like this...good.

We also had Stake Conference and got to go to both sessions. I have had so many stake conferences on my mission, since they're at different times of the year and we move around. I have gone to loads and Sister Pugh has almost moved right before so she's gone to next to none. It was delightful and I learned a lot! We also got to hear from President and Sister Brown, which is always amazing. President Brown talked about obedience, of course, and his quote is my finale to this e-mail. 

"If we are almost obedient, we will almost receive the blessings that come from obedience." 

I dare you to choose something you're not as obedient as you could be about, change it, and see the blessings flow into your life! 

I love you all! The Church is true and the gospel changes lives!

Love,

Sister Amanda Ricks

xx