I'm 23! What!?!

Okay, I've been so excited about writing this email! I have a request of all of you... a birthday request! I'm not much for gifts, but this one I'm excited about :) If you didn't know, it was my birthday on Friday. And then, we had that amazing conference talk from Elder Ballard about doing missionary work... you worried yet? 

Here's my request: As a birthday present to me, will you pray about an opportunity to do missionary work and then act? And then will you either send me a letter telling me about it, or just write about it on my Facebook wall so I can see it when I get home? I'm most excited about you doing missionary work, not about reporting back. But that would be cool anyway! Could you do that? :D Read Moroni 7:33. It will help you out if you're nervous!

Darn it- I had made a list of things I wanted to write about and then I left it at home... let's see if I can remember. It's been an INCREDIBLE week and I've seen miracles and lessons all over the place.

1. D&C 4. It talks about the field being "white already to harvest." In other words, the people are ALREADY ready... we just need to find them. Um. This is so real. I am blown away with how real this promise is. We have found so many people who are already ready to receive the gospel, they just needed us or the members to find them and talk to them about it. This promise is JUST as real for missionaries as it is for members. How amazing were those conference talks about member missionary work?

2. Along the same lines, it is SO true that member referrals for missionary work are so much more effective than missionaries just finding people. We are finding them, certainly, but the investigators that stick it through the hard times are almost always the ones that have friends in the gospel who support them. Get out of yourself! Go love people enough to give them this gift!

3. Those were both really preachy... sorry about that. Here's a not so preachy lesson: the scriptures are INCREDIBLE. Also, the story of Aaron teaching the father of King Lamoni... Alma 22.... is an incredible outline for missionary work. I've been really studying it in depth and it has so much to teach us about how to effectively talk to someone about the gospel. So cool.

4. SMILE! Darn, did I already do this one? We went to Philadelphia last Monday for P-day and hardly anyone smiled back when we would smile at them! It's incredible what a simple smile can do to your attitude. Honestly, when someone smiles and me and I smile back, I really do feel happier. Smiling is such a gift from God and a gift that we can give to others. So we should all do it. 

5. I wish I could give a huge hug to all of the missionaries who were working with our investigators before we were here. Their work is priceless. Although we are the missionaries who are seeing them be baptized, so much of the testimonies of these people came because of the work of previous missionaries. THANK YOU, all of you returned missionaries. You'll never have any idea of the impact that you had on those people that you DIDN'T see get baptized. You did so much more than you realize!

We are being so blessed in our area, I can't even explain. My companions and I sometimes just sit in amazement at the work that we've been trusted with. As of yesterday, we have 5 investigators with a date for baptism. We have 5 others that are on their way. And we're being let into the homes of a ton of less active members of the ward who love us and are being touched by the Spirit. 

 It was so cool on Saturday night- we were in a lesson with B (names will be omitted for privacy). He had this weird idea about God and the creation and all this stuff. As we taught him the Plan of Salvation, his face changed and you could see understanding coming. He had had a lot of questions and he seriously just answered them all on his own. The Spirit is truly the actual teacher in this work! None of what we said was what he was taught by the Spirit. 

Also- we had an investigator come to General Conference on Saturday and after we gave him a tour of the church, he asked when he could get baptized. We tried to set it up for the beginning of November, but he asked if we could move it up. He doesn't want to wait because he knows that this is exactly where he needs to be.

I love the gospel. I love the Lord and I'm so grateful for His goodness. I don't deserve any of these blessings that I'm experiencing, but I'm certainly grateful for them. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints IS the one church on earth with the fullness of the gospel!

Love, Sister Ricks

 

 

With Uncle Warren before the MTC

Sister Manson and I were friends before the mission. We were at the MTC together and she's in my Zone in the mission!

Ummm..... :)

We ran up the Rocky steps right after this picture!

One of our investigators loves us so much she gave Sister Jensen her church outfit! hahaha

A member bought be a birthday pie! She's so good to me :)