Merry CHRISTmas! December 23

Is anyone else amazed with how quickly Christmas came? What happened to the last 3 months?! What an amazing time of year though! People are willing to put aside so many differences and be kind to strangers just because we are all celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. We've had an awesome week of meeting a lot of members of the church that haven't been to church in a while. It seems like people are more willing to put aside the superficial at this time of year and really talk about what matters most to them. We've met some amazing people that we are able to help remind about Jesus Christ and what He's done for them. That's what Christmas should be about!

Lessons:

1. The Spirit of CHRISTmas. While I'm thousands of miles away from my family and friends for Christmas, most people out here think that I should be super sad and lonely. I'll be honest, there are moments when I crave being home with you all. But for the most part, it's a cool experience to get away from 1.things that don't really matter (the parties and the gifts, etc) and 2.things that matter most of all (my family and friends). Being away from it all, it's easy to differentiate and see what I really miss and what I want to focus on at Christmas time. At home, it all seems to mix and the superficial seems as important as the non-superficial. But now I see that what I care most about is the people in my life. I care about Jesus Christ and what He has done for me. I care about the gift that He has given me to be with my family forever. That is really what this season is all about! Showing gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ for giving us all the opportunity to find happiness with the ones we love. I sure love this season!

2. Love is about other people, not yourself. I saw an example of real love this week. It was simple and may seem insignificant. But it jumped out at me with a lot of force and I realized that love is always about other people. We were at a lesson and singing a song. There were 7 of us, and we were singing out of the hymn book. One of the ladies is an older woman who is mostly blind. She couldn't read out of the hymn book so she wasn't able to sing along. A younger woman leaned over and read the words to the older woman so that she would know the words to sing. The younger woman didn't think twice about letting the older woman have the blessing of singing a hymn to God. It was simple and sweet and full of love. I want to always be like that- I want to think of others before I think of myself.

This is a wonderful time of year, and a great time to get things into perspective for the upcoming year. I hope you all take the time to think of Christ and remember how blessed you are because of what He did for you. I know that my Redeemer lives!

Love, Sister Ricks

This is what happens to your door when it is locked in the middle of night and you and your companions try for half an hour to open it and just have to go to the bathroom so badly that the only option is to break it..... :)

Probably the tiniest, cutest old woman I've ever seen in my life

Some members through a Christmas party for some of us missionaries!