Cape May, New Jersey

I love this place! It's SOOO different from my last area. So I have a lot of adjusting to do and trying to find where I fit in. But it's coming and I'm glad to be here. My companion and I are really good friends (she actually reminds me almost exactly of Katharyne Pies, one of my best friends growing up) and we're working hard to do what these people need. I had some great lessons this week:

 

1. People can change. They can have real, lasting change. The people that you would least expect that have made really big mistakes in the past can change their lives through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That is the POINT of the Atonement, so that we can repent by changing and growing closer to Christ. We may not understand entirely just HOW the Atonement works, but it is so beautiful that it does work. And because it works, we need to LET people change, in the way that we think of them and treat them. Let the Atonement do what it does and let people grow and be different and accept them for who they are becoming instead of who they have been. I'm glad that I learned that this week with someone completely unexpected.

 

2. Sometimes, a big mistake made by one person can effect 10 or 20 or more people for years and years and to come. We need to be aware of the choices that we make and who might be effected by them. Just do your best and be your best!

 

3. People just want to be loved and appreciated! When they are treated as a son or a daughter of God full of potential, they are very capable of helping miracles to happen. I'm grateful to be learning just HOW important it is to love people through their mistakes and weaknesses. I've seen some people live up to their true potential when you never would have expected that, just because they were truly and unconditionally loved.

 

I love you all a lot! A lot a lot! I'm so happy and I'm so grateful to be on the Lord's errand, fighting on the front lines of the battle against Satan. I know that this work is real and it is absolutely necessary. Please tell all of your missionaries how grateful I am for them and for their service!

Love, Sister Amber Flower Ricks

One time we were having a missionary meeting at the church and the fire alarm went off. Hello firemen!

Me and JJ. We're meant to be buds.

Shaylee! From Arizona!!!!!