Sister Ricker

hey,

guess what! we had so many great experiences this week.

for starters, last monday we went out trying to find people on the ward list that we knew nothing about. after several dead ends (people had moved or they were still not interested in coming back to church) we knocked on a door and found a man and he told us that he wasnt interested in having us come by and he has been penecostal for years. it was another dead end, or so we thought. as we were walking away from the door, he called after us.

“actually you can come by some time.” so of course we turned around and set up an appointment before he could change his mind again. so we went back the next night. we showed up, he let us in, and we started trying to make some small talk, just to get to know him. after a few minutes he changed the subject. he wanted to get to the point. he told us that has had a really rough time lately, and he has not been going to church but he has really been praying for help. he needed some thing that would help him get out of this slump he was in. life had dealt him a pretty nasty blow and he was just struggling. then all of a sudden we knocked on his door. cool huh! but it gets better. so his first reaction was that he hadnt gone to our church in years and he wasnt interested but as he was closing the door, a scripture came in to his mind. a scripture about Christ knocking and letting Him. WOW! so he listened to the Spirit and he called us back. so now the pressure is on. we were literally an answer to his prayer. so i shared some scriptures as i felt prompted and we really tried to listen to the Spirit and tell him what our Heavenly Father wanted him to hear. later he told us that between the time we set up the appointment and the time we showed up for the appointment, he was really praying to know if this was from God. he said that in his prayers he told God that if we were from Him, let us come but if we werent from Him, then dont let us come.

well, we came.

what an awesome and humbling experience. ahhh!!! i love being able to be an instrument in my Heavenly Father’s hands. all i can say is wow and thank you Heavenly Father. i am so grateful to be hear and to be able to serve Him. i love that He could count on us to be that answer to that man’s prayers. and we set up a return appointment to teach him the discussions even though he is already a member. he hasnt gone since he was a kid.

okay so this is going to be long but here is another great story. i think it was friday, we went tracting. we were going along just a knockin’ no special feelings or impressions and we tracted in to brittney. she told us she would love to hear what we had to share and we set up a return appointment for the next day. we came back and began teaching her the first lesson. she is awesome. she has so much faith in Heavenly Father and in Jesus Christ. several times throughout the lesson she told us that she knew that everything happened for a reason, good and bad. well near the end of the lesson she said it again, and i felt impressed to testify to her that she was right things to happen for a reason and we did not just knock on her door by happenstance. we knocked on her door, at that time in her life for a reason. Heavenly Father knew her and knew that she was ready to hear what we had to share with her. i told her that there was something in her that compelled her to invite us back and that did not just happen. it was all for a reason. Heavenly Father knew her and wanted her to hear the gospel. (more or less that is what i said, i always have a hard time remembering especially when it was obviously not my own words that came out of my mouth)

so a pretty bold thing to say when i didnt feel any strong impressions pulling me towards her door. it was just the next door and the street. but when the Spirit promts it is hard not to open my mouth. so i testified as i said before and as i heeded the Spirit, my own testimony was strengthened, because as i spoke, the Spirit witnessed to me that what i was saying was true. more than i could ever understand, it was true. we were led to her door at that time for a reason, she was ready. wow! so cool, chills all over, cool. once again i was oblivious to how much this work is being guided. how much i am being guided. there is so much power in what we are doing and i cant even begin to comprehend. this is Heavenly Father’s work, His work and His glory.

what an honor to be here.

sister ricker

this week was interesting. we had zone conference last tuesday so i left all fired up and ready to get back to work. i recieved alot of answers to prayers and i knew what we needed to do to help each one of our investigators progress.

then wednesday was p-day so we didnt get straight to work after zone conference. so the fire died down a little bit. then throughout the week it just kept getting smaller and smaller. the lowest point was when one of our investigators called and told us that he couldnt be at the appointment cause he needs to go through the AA program and he needs to do it right and he cant make any important life decisions while going through the program. he said he is not going to be baptized till after he finishes the program. SAD DAY! i tried to tell him that we didnt want to pressure him, we just wanted to help him, but he was pretty clear. he was so golden too. he knew it was true after just one lesson. he said thanks for all that we had done and that he will keep reading the book of mormon and keep praying. i hate to see him go through overcoming his addiction without relying on the gospel and Christ which will help him most. we are more than happy to meet with him til he is ready to be baptized so we are going to try get some of his lds co-workers/friends talk to him. i would just hate to lose complete contact with him. he knows it is all true and he wants to join he is just fighting this nasty addiction.

then two of our other investigators didnt show up for their appointments and a third told us she was moving. but she did say she still wants to be baptized right away and she wants us to still teach her so we have to work that out. we will probably have the elders in her new area come to the lessons as well so we can transition over easily.

n-e-ways, we also werent able to go tracting for one reason or another and it seemed like every person we tried to stop on the street just shot us down.

oh on a kind of amusing note. it has been slightly chilly (light jacket weather for part of the day) so we pulled out our light rain jackets which happen to match pretty well (how cute are we ) and we headed out one afternoon with a book of mormon in hand and our tags in gleaming to track down a referral from the referral center in provo. this was the first one we had recieved so we were determined to find this woman. ths first trailor we went to sent us to another trailor park. the trailor there sent us back to the first trailor park. the next person we talked to said she knew that woman but she lived on the other side of the park in a green or blue trailor. so we tried to track her down. she was not in the green trailor. she was not in the blue trailor. she was not in the blue-green trailor. but we were determined. we knocked on a few doors asking random people if they knew who she was. they didnt. n-e-ways we felt like detectives in our long rain coats. it was kind of fun following random leads from one trailor park to another and from one side of the park to the other.

so yesterday started a new week and it went really well. we talked to so many people on the street, in parking lots, in businesses, behind random doors, it felt good. we worked hard and started the week off with a bang. i love this work. i know this is where i need to be and i love being able to get out of bed each morning, knowing that i am going to spend the day doing the Lord’s work. i know there are going to be many more weeks like last week where it just seems like we are spinning our wheels but i also know that the miracle comes after the trial of my faith. and i know that it will be well worth it in the end. thanks for all y’all’s support.

love sister ricker

sorry i forgot to tell you that he finally came to church and wore his new suit. he looked so sharp. we were so excited for him. dont worry we’re gonna teach him the word of wisdom next.

so, another great week in kennewick. this is the first week of my second transfer. crazy huh? time flies by so fast out here. we had zone conference yesterday and it was great. such a spiritual recharge. we sat on the first row which before my mission would have been a problem cause well, i might have dozed off. but i was not dozing yesterday. i was soaking it all up. look at me im growing up . i left all fired up to get back to work and really help our investigators come unto Christ and accept those sacred ordinances that bring them salvation.

we have so many really good investigators. this weekend was exciting cause we got back in touch with one of our investigators who we had not been able to really get a hold of for several weeks. i think i wrote about him a while back but anyways. he called up an lds co-worker of his and asked him how he could convert so we were called in and we taught him the first lesson. he was golden. but we had a really hard time setting up the next appointment and he was never home when we went by. so we were really confused. and he kept not coming church even after he told us he was coming. and he was so sincere on the phone. he even said he bought a brand new suit. but saturday night we recieved a phone call from another one of his lds co-workers. she asked if we had been working with him and she asked if we could help him get a blessing. he has been having a really rough time and he is pretty sick. so toot-too-ta-toooo (sound it out, with vigor, for a more interactive email) we jumped on the oppotunity called some people and sped over to give him the blessing.

we showed up and he was on the stoop outside his apartment. he looked really bad. he told us that he had been under a lot of stress lately because of work (lots of deportations) and because of his family. he told his brother that he wants to be a mormon and it didnt go over so well. he is also really stressed out about telling his parents. he prays every night to know what the truth is and what he needs to do. he knows it is true and he knows he needs to talk to his family and it is really stressing him. he said he has been drinking a lot lately because of all the stress.

the two men from the ward gave him a blessing, outside of his apartment (he didnt want anyone to come in cause it was a mess). the Spirit was so strong on the stoop of his apartment. What an awesome experience. after he said he felt such power, strength, and comfort, and he wishes he could always feel like that. he is great. i feel so bad for him. he has recieved such a strong witness that this is true and that he has to be baptized and he has only recieved one lesson. wow! when someone is ready they are ready. when i was leaving i shook his hand and he kissed my hand and thanked us with such sincerity. wow. what an awesome responsibility to come and help people change their lives. i am overwhelmed by the fact that Heavenly Father is working miracles through me.

twice this week we were told by investigators that just having us around and talking to us brings peace, comfort, strength, and hope into their really rough lives. WoW. who am i to make such an impact? seriously the Spirit is amazing and the power of this calling is humbling. i hope i can live up to it.

sister ricker

hey,

so this week i am back in a threesome. the visa-waiter that was sister mutz’ companion finally got her visa so sister mutz’ came back over with sister stutz and i on saturday. but transfers are on friday so she will get a new companion. it is cool cause i like sister mutz a lot but kind of stressful cause it is more area to cover. sister stutz and i were really getting down to work and attacking our little area but now we are back to two areas and three wards so that is overwhelming. but at least it is only for a week. i feel bad for sister mutz she just keeps getting bounced around. oh by the way that means i am not being transfered which i kind of figured any ways. so our district is four sisters and two elders. poor elders .

sunday was amazing. since we are back over three wards i was in church all day again but since it was fast sunday it worked out nicely. keeps me focused. after church, we had an appointment with the brown family who is in sister mutz’ area so i havent been able to see them for a few weeks. so it was nice to be able to teach them again. they are such a cute family; a mom and dad, twin ten yr olds, a six yr old, a 4 yr old, and a new baby. plus the father’s brother is living with them as well as his pregnant girlfriend/fiance. they are all taking the lessons and they are all progressing. the kids are so eager to learn.

after that we went to dinner and then we had another appointment with lester. i dont know if i have told y’all about lester but he is awesome. he is a 28 yr old cowboy and he making huge steps. he has commited to stop smoking so he is working on that. last week we taught him sabbath day observance and we read him the scripture in exodus about the sabbath and he said “so does that mean i shouldnt work my horses on the sabbath”. it was beautiful. horses are his passion and his main time to work his horses are on sundays and we were nervous about how to bring that up. we didnt have to. he drew the connection all on his own. the Spirit is amazing. but wait it gets better. so we talked to him about the power of the priesthood and told him that it would help to get a blessing as he works to stop smoking. so he asked us to set one up for the next sunday. so this sunday we had brother beeman, a former less-active who has recently given up smoking and is now working towards the temple with is wife and little girl. (by the way they are another amazing family but i dont have time to tell y’all more about them). so brother beeman came, gave his simple and powerful testimony of how the priesthood helped him quit smoking and he and brother reeder (we are teaching lester in the reeder home) gave him a simple but overwhelming blessing. the Spirit was so strong!!! Lester was crying. this tough bull riding cowboy had to compose himself before he could move from his chair. if we had ended the lesson there it still would have been journal worthy. i wish i could describe what it felt like to be in that room. but wait… it gets better.

we had planned on teaching him lesson three and commiting him to baptism. scary because he still had not recieved an answer about the restoration, as of the last time we talked. but sister stutz and i really felt like it was time. so we planned for that but throughout the day we both felt like we better not. we were going to be limited on time cause we had an appointment right after, we had been running late all day, and we really wanted to not rush the blessing. so we decided it would be best to put that lesson off for next time and just use whatever time we had left to answer any of his questions/concerns, just to talk. so after the lesson we told him it was his time to ask us whatever and just to talk. well it was silent for a moment and he didnt look at us so i thought maybe he didnt have anything to say and we were going to have to come up with something. then he said,”well i think i got my answer last night…”(silence, kind of scary)”things have been really rough and stressfull lately and i was really praying hard last night, and i found peace” (yah!!…it gets better) “i was praying and i cant really describe it but, i got my answer, after i stop smoking and i get rid of some of my worldly habits (he really said that, isnt he awesome), i’m going to be baptized.” seriously the most exciting point of my mission so far. we didnt even have to commit him.

wow i love this gospel and i am so glad to be able to be a part of this great work that i dont completely understand and probably will never (at least on earth). but i am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has allowed me to be a part of this despite my inadequacies. i am not gonna lie i am still working on really loving the people i am working with and really caring about them and their whole slew of problems that they so freely unload on missionaries. but i am trying and i am praying for that charity because i know that the more i love them, the more able i will be to help them come unto Christ and feel the love that He has for them.

sister ricker

There are new pictures up in Sister Ricker’s photo gallery which can be accessed here: http://sisterricker.com/photos/August%202008/

hey,

this week was great (let me know if that is how i start every week, i’ll try to think of a new intro. something more creative to add variety). we went tracting a ton. we taught 39 other lessons, which means we at least shared a principle and left them with a commitment. it was great, we were really getting down and working hard. the weather has been nice for it too. the beginning of the week was kind of hot but it has cooled down a lot and it is actually kind of chilly in the morning and evenings. one of the days it was hot though, it was really hot. we were sweating so much but it felt good. we were in the bishop’s neighborhood so he gave us some cold water and invited us to come back for dinner so that was nice. it happened to be one of the few days that we didnt have a dinner scheduled. it always amazes me how well the we are taken care of. somebody dropped by a giant bag of really good nectarines last night and we dont even know who it was cause we didnt see them come by.
so i never told y’all but a few weeks ago we were at subway on a p-day and the man in front of us in line paid for our food. he just told the girl at the register that he wanted to pay for ours so she rang it all up for him. she told him that it was really nice of him and he said “well they work really hard all the time.” he left before we could talk to him. i dont know if he is a member or not, but how cool is that? so i learned that this area, the tri-cities is like 12% LDS.
i bore my testimony in spanish for the first time this week, at least i think it was this week, times goes by so fast and it all seems to run together sometimes. n-e-ways we were walking along and he was walking behind us so my companion slowed down so he could pass and of course so we could talk to him. she started talking to him and he said he didnt speak english so she said “oh, that’s okay sister ricker here speaks spanish.” and they both turned to me expectantly and i only hesitated a moment cause well i had no choice, and i said who we were “somos….” but i didnt really know where to go from there so i just bore my testimony. simple of course cause my spanish is well struggling but i did it. he and i actually had a pretty long conversation. i asked if he was interested in learning more, he wasnt, he told me why and what he believed, i bore my testimony again, and gave him a pass-along card. he was friendly and it was cool to be able to bear my testimony in spanish. intense but cool.
last night we were teaching Blanca. her husband, pablo, is a member and they are wanting to learn more and come together as a family. n-e-ways it went really well we were teaching about prayer and recieving answers through the Holy Ghost. while we were teaching i felt like i needed to talk about the eternal families and so i did. cause i cant afford to ignore the Spirit, then i felt like i needed to share our family motto “seremos unidos eternamente”, so i did, and i shared what it ment to our family to have that as our focus and the knowledge that we can be together forever if we continue to accept and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. it was a good lesson. the Spirit was really strong. when stuff like that happens when i feel like i need to share things like that, things i hadnt planned on using in the lesson, i am a bit hesitant cause i am still not sure if it is just me thinking or it is the Spirit, but i do it any ways just in case it was the Spirit. but i am getting better at having confidence in my own ability to listen to the Spirit and teach by it. i love this gospel and this work. it is hard to describe what i am feeling but all i can say is it feels good and it feels right cause i know this is what the Lord wants me to be doing. and when i know He is helping me teach even though i am surprised by what i feel like i need to teach sometimes i know it is coming from Him and that is such a strength.

sister ricker