Feed My Sheep: Transfers! December 9

I'm...........staying! Sister Jensen is leaving though, and I'm really sad to have her go. She is my "mom" on the mission, because she was my trainer. We've gotten really close and it will be weird to not have her around all the time. But Sister Bernards and I are staying, and I know that we're going to have a ton of fun. She's a hard worker and is really good with keeping focused on the work, so I'm excited for the miracles that we are going to see in this area.

We had an exciting change happen in Stake Conference yesterday. We got a new Stake President because the old one is called to be a mission president. He was awesome, but I'm excited about the new one. Via Sikahema (This awesome Tongan man who played for the Eagles for years. He's super famous around here and played a HUGE role in getting the land purchased for the Philadelphia temple) is the new Stake President, and when he spoke on Sunday, he made it VERY clear that he is going to PUSH member missionary work. He called himself the Missionary Stake President, because that is what he's good at. He's a way humble man, but bold stated that missionary work is the thing that he knows how to do best. I'm way excited!

Also, we had a huge snow storm yesterday when we got out of Stake Conference. As we were driving home in bumper to bumper traffic, there were a lot of cars that got stuck in the snow. Sister Jensen and I jumped out of the car and pushed car after car out of the snow. Some other missionaries saw and came to help too. That was SO fun!

Because I am no longer a 'Greenie' or a 'Golden' as my mission calls it, I get to have Facebook. But I'm not able to add anyone from back home as a friend, and you're not supposed to comment on anything. It will be an open profile so everyone can keep up on what's going on, we just can't be friends.

As for my lessons this week:

1. When you are struggling, pray for help to recognize your weaknesses. As you do so, Heavenly Father will let you know what your weaknesses are so you can work on them. If you don't try to recognize where you are weak, you may stay in a painful cycle for a long time until you know what you can work on. I had a pretty tough week again last week. I wasn't sure why, but I was just struggling. So I prayed hard. Heavenly Father graciously made me aware of what it is that I struggle with, so I am now able to focus on improving that area of my life. I'm excited to see what He helps me to become.

2. The Spirit at the temple is amazing! If you're feeling low on the Spirit in your life, go to the temple. Either go inside, or even just walk around the grounds of the temple. The closest that I can get to the temple right now is going to the Philadelphia temple site and to the visitor's trailer. Even in there, I feel the influence of the temple. Make the temple a regular part of your life!

3. You can make your own personal mormon.org pass along cards! Go to https://mormonorg.lds.org/profile/share/pass-along. They are SOO cool! You have to have a mormon.org profile for it to work, just so you know. Print them out, use them!

I love you all! I love the Lord and I love my chance to be stretched and to grow a lot!

Love, Sister Ricks