Sister Ricker

so, im being transfered for the first time of my mission. im pretty excited. im going all the way over to west richland lol. which is good cause a family that i have been working with the whole time ive been here is going through the temple on march 21st so i should be able to go to since i will still be in the tricities. hmmm….what has happened this week? well this weekend has been filled with a whole lot of goodbyes. sad…i saw our young recent converts last night that wasnt easy. but at least i was able to see their conversion. what an awesome experience to witness.

bishop made us bisquits and gravy for breakfast this morning. he is a really good bishop. im gonna be spending the whole day packing and trying to squeeze all my stuff in to two suitcases. wish me luck.

i have spent quite a bit of time in the last few days thinking about my time here in kennewick. i have been so blessed to work with some really neat people. i have learned so much about myself, my Heavenly Father, and my Savior Jesus Christ. They love us soooo much!!! everytime i really think about it i almost have to catch my breath. “i stand all amazed”. i hope and pray that i did what i was sent to this area to do. and i hope and pray that i can continue to grow and become a better missionary and that i can do what i am called to do in my next area. thanks for all the support.

love
sister sarah ricker

hows it going? life in kennewick is going pretty well. we’ve been working hard to find new people to teach and to get our ward excited about missionary work. sister bowcutt and i taught relief society on sunday and we were practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing!!! we, as members of the church have been blessed with knowledge so priceless, so valuable, how could we interact with people on a daily basis that have it and not share it. i cant even imagine not knowing that i am a daughter of God. My Heavenly Father loves me, my soul is so valuable to Him that He sent His son to die for me, so that i could come home. He wants me back. but He doesnt just want me back, He wants everyone else to come home. every single person we pass each day is a child of God, and He loves them just as much as He loves me, and i know He loves me.

anyways here i go again getting all fired up. so the lesson went something like that. we are feeling pretty positive about the work right now. good things are coming, i can feel it. we have been working hard and striving to stay hopeful and i know Heavenly Father will answer our prayers. He loves His children in our little area.

so i just want to share a little bit of foreknowledge that i recieved. so as y’all know transfers are coming up, and we wont know what will happen till this weekend. but, last week i ate a fortune cookie and this is what it said “changes are in the works”, now that is obviously referring to the pending transfers. but it is not conclusive. it could mean a number of things. i could leave or my companion could leave or perhaps both. but dont worry there is more. last night i ate yet another fortune cookie and any ambiguities were cleared right up. it said “pleasures await you by the seashore”. clearly i will be transfered to the coast side of the mission, im going to vancouver.

anyways, whatever happens is cool with me, cause well, Heavenly Father is making the decision and well He doesnt make mistakes. i know i will be exactly where i need to be next transfer. what a comfort to know He is in charge of His work.

thanks for everything
love
sister ricker

we’re down to two more weeks left in the transfer. it is weird cause it feels like this transfer just started. wow time is flying by.

we’ve been working hard as usual. we beat our record number of other lessons taught in a week again. maybe we’ll go for a hundred this week . hmmm…what do y’all even want to hear about?

i made amends with a three-legged dog that tried to eat me way back in the summer. it was a beautiful moment. i walked in for dinner and there she was with her muzzle keeping her sister missionary eating jaw tightly closed. she had no choice but to be my friend. she hobbled on over to me, sniffed a little and just plopped down by my chair. her owner is trying to get her used to us. i hope it worked.

what else…oh we had a whole family at church this sunday. that was pretty exciting. it was their first time at church and it was stake conference so we were extra nervous. but i think it turned out to be an awesome meeting for them. they are a really sweet family. we have only taught them twice but them coming to church is a pretty good sign.

there isnt much else to say, we’ve just been working hard trying to find more people to teach. we could always use more people who are ready for the truth. the gospel is just so amazing, i know it seems pretty weird and foreign to see two young mormon missionaries going around door to door, but what we have so perfect and natural if only they would give it a try. it wouldnt seem wierd at all that we are trying to bring it to others. they knew it once before. every single person already chose Christ’s plan once before they even came to earth. it is so natural, it’s who we are, we are all children of God!

i hope y’all have a good week

love ya
sister ricker

how goes it all?

hmmm…what to say about last week? we broke my mission record for other lessons taught (an other lesson is any time we teach a principle and extend a commitment, that includes stopping people on the street and tracting, so like if i were to say “we’re going around today talking to people a little bit about a prophet of God ….. would you and your family like to learn more about that?” that is just a condense version but you get the idea) we tracted a ton this week cause well…we need more people to teach. it felt really good at the end of the week to know how many people we gave to opportunity to learn about the restored gospel.

i prayed constantly that we might find those people who are prepared to hear the gospel. i remained hopeful all week and we didnt find anyone but i know that they will come. i know that our prayers were heard and our diligence was seen and Heavenly Father will answer us. it was a good week.

oh mami, so we tracted in to a family from cuba. they were way nice and invited us in. they didnt speak any english so i was on my own (not literally dont worry). i got all excited when the father said they were from cuba. i said hey my mom is from cuba (only in spanish of course) he asked what part and said that there are quite a few cubans from pinar del rio living in kennewick. but then he kept talking and completely lost me. seriously mami, whatever he was speaking, it was not spanish. he was talking about castro and i really wanted to know what he was saying but …i got nothing. i wanted to know his story but…i got nothing. he has only been here 8 months. i through in several “como’s” but after a while i just gave up. they weren’t interested in the gospel they said “creemos en Dios y los santos” and they were quite happy with that.

we also tracted into two sisters from iraq. they were also really nice and invited us in. luckily they spoke english. we visited with them for a while. they were also not interested but it was a cool visit.

i have actually been tracting in Spanish quite a bit, at least a few doors each day. and we give the spanish sisters tons of referrals.

anyways life is still good here. the church is true and time is still flying by which is always a good sign.

thanks for all the support

love sister sarah ricker