Sister Ricker

i just got back from the state fair. guess who is singing tonight…billy ray cyrus!!! dont worry i called president, we had a little chat, i explained to him that i felt very strongly that i could get billy to attend general conference this weekend if i could just go to the fair and talk with him. so he gave my companion and i special permission to go, not for our own entertainment of course, but on official missionary business.

just kidding but, i did get some kettle corn and the man doing the caricatures was from salt lake so he did ours for free.

maybe i can get boyz to men to go to general conference, they’ll be at the fair later this week. ill call president tomorrow.

hmmm…this week…

it was good. i got my new companion on wednesday. she’s 6 ft tall, an inch taller than my last one. i cant wait to see how tall my next companion is. they do say that companions on your mission help prepare you for your eternal companion. not a bad thought. ive always thought 6′ 3 would be a good height .

anyways, all is going well with her. she is awesome. i took her tracting on the first day and she was ready to try after just a few doors. she is so excited about that work it is great. i keep forgetting that she is new though.

lets see, yesterday we were walking to dinner and i stopped and talked to this man on the street and he was in a hurry but the Spirit told me to talk to him about the temple. i almost didnt because i wasnt sure how much he was listening anyways but i went for it because it does not feel good to ignore the Spirit. after i did the guy mentioned that his mother had just passed away. wow!! Heavenly Father really does know all of His children and what they are going through.

we have been trying to follow up on several almost investigators. a few that came to church last sunday and this one lady that my last companion and i tracted into a few weeks ago. she had told us to go ahead a bring her a book of mormon. so about a week later we went back and i think she was a little surprised to see us again and even more that we remembered her name. we chatted and she was super friendly. we told her we would come back in a week to see how she liked what we left her to read. so we went back and it was a really good visit and we are going back next week.

there are a lot of really good things in the works here. several people just on the verge.

i love this gospel and im so grateful for the opportunity to be serving at this time. i love teaching!!! seriously every time i walk out of a good lesson im still surprised by how good it feels.

love y’all
sister ricker

oh i forgot to tell y’all. the ward members were so welcoming to our many visitors. especially the young mother and her two kids. seriously, everyone and their dog came up and introduced themselves to her. can i tell you what that does to a little missionary heart? im so proud of this ward. they really welcome people in. that’s the way Heavenly Father ment our wards and meetings to be.

in fact, by the third hour, i was little worried it might overwhelm her. but she was okay

love ya

this week was great.

the highlight…BAPTISM!! it was so good. they were so excited when they showed up. also, like half the ward showed up. seriously one of the best turnouts ive seen, standing room only. i think what made all the difference were the invitations that the girls handed out personally. how can you turn down such cute smiles. i was so happy. these girls are awesome, and i know our Heavenly Father loves them so much. this ward is going to be good for them.

so while we were filling up the font, president called, and i missed it!!! i knew it was transfer week so i had the phone in my hand and still i missed it. so of course my heart goes to my throat. i called him back and he said “sister ricker, how are you doing? …. can i get back to you?” so we waited….and waited…

moral of the story, never miss a transfer call, its torture. luckily he took pity on us and didnt make us wait too long.

so im training…scary… and my companion is heading out. i havent even gotten around to sending home a picture of her and already im getting a new one. sad, this will be my fourth companion in four transfers. im not sure what that says about me.

oh!!! sunday was the best!!! we had so many people there. our young recent converts were confirmed. that alone would have made the day. but Heavenly Father had so much more in store for us. one of our investigators had work off so he came, for the first time since i have been here. and a mother and her two kids that we found tracting came. that was so exciting. she said several times that it felt good to be there and she was coming back. we had tracted into her a few weeks ago but we havent been able to get in to teach her cause she works a ton but she was so sincere and we felt really good about her so we have stopped by a couple times and talked to her on the doorstep and this last week we stopped by and she was so excited to tell us that she had this sunday off, so she could come to church.

there was another girl there that we have been trying to get to come to church aswell. oh and there was a man there that just showed up on his own. he wasnt sure what time church was so he missed sacrament meeting but he was able to go to the spanish branch.

see! i told you it was a good sunday. i came home exhausted. anytime we have new people at church i spend the whole time praying and praying that all goes well for them. and i listen so closely to everything said hoping nobody shares their favorite bits of false doctrine.

i dont know why i worry, Heavenly Father knows them and what they need to hear. i just have to remind myself “never underestimate the power of the Spirit to convert”.

ill let y’all go

love y’all
sister ricker

hello,

so guess who spoke at our stake conference on sunday….President Monson!!! how cool is that. it would have been cooler if it had been live. it was a stake conference for all the washington and alaska stakes. President Monson, Elder Nelson, and someone from the general ym’s presidency. it was really cool. we knew it was going to be a live feed from salt lake but we werent expecting President Monson and he spoke for quite a while. also it was only and hour and a half.

after stake conference our young investigators were interviewed for baptism. they are awesome. before stake conference started they were passing out invitations to their baptism which is this friday evening. itll be good, im excited. these little girls have been through so much in their lives but they are in a loving home and they are soaking up the gospel. im so happy for them and i know Heavenly Father is too.

i also got some really good news from my old area in hermiston. an incredible college-aged girl who was taking the lessons when i was there is getting baptized. she has been coming to church for months, im so happy for her. i want to go but im too far away.

it is always good to hear about the people you leave behind in areas because you work so much with them and you grow to love them and its scary to leave them. im so glad that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us so very much and He is involved in the details of our lives, He never forgets us, He never gives up on us, and He is working miracles everywhere.

love y’all
sister sarah ricker

how goes it?

so this week…well i heard thunder for the first time in several months. it is so weird how it never rains here. but dont worry the sprinkler systems are very high tech so it is a lot greener than it was ever ment to be.

my companion is in an air boot for like two weeks so we are in the car all day. we’ve had to adjust some and be more creative but we’ll get there. it would be more convenient if the injury accured in the middle of the winter when i have absolutely no desire to be out walking around. but, what can ya do.

our young investigators came to church again. that was so exciting. and they went to mutual during the week. WOOT!

hmmm…what more do y’all want to know?

we picked peaches this morning, that was fun. i love it here. there are orchards everywhere. miles and miles of fruity goodness, mmmmm…oh and miles and miles of hops, which are cool to look at. not so good for the belly. but it is harvest season so it is sad to see the cleaned out trees and the big empty hops fields.

i dont really have much else to say…
love ya
sister ricker

hello!!!

so hmmm…this week has been…good. we worked hard but it was good. its the end of the month so we were very mile poor…well actually lets be honest…we were dealing with some serious mile debt. and we all know what debt can do to someone.(really it just means we walk all day instead of driving part of the day / we are so spoiled but dont worry today is a whole new month . the sky’s the limit, if of course the sky is 850 miles away.

we had a really good day yesterday. you see our mission president had challenged us to call up our dinner appointments ahead of time and invite them to invite someone over for dinner when we come. well we took him up on the challenge and last friday i whipped open my handy dandy planner and with the guidance of the Spirit i chose a family to call and they said they did have someone they could invite and they would love to. WOW!! how cool is that. so all weekend i kept my fingers crossed (figuratively speaking of course) and said some more prayers and it all worked out. she was there along with her son and i knew we had to share a scripture and once again with the help of the Spirit the right scripture was available. i opened my book of mormon and right there in the middle of the page was something i had marked months ago but it was perfect. Heavenly Father is so good to me.

anyways she is coming to church this sunday with her son. how cool is that. i love sharing the gospel. i wish i could get on the speakers at wal-mart and tell the whole world (cause practically the whole world is at wal-mart) what we have is so perfect and clear and endless and satisfying. i could go on but i wont

so also yesterday i learned a rough lesson. we went to lunch as a district after district meeting and the elders were trying to see how many jalapenos they could eat. the waitress brought out some super hot hot sauce. i think it was called sudden death. well one of the elders said that if i tired it i wouldnt have to pay for my zone t-shirt. okay so if you want me to do anything all you have to do is dangle a t-shirt infront of me. but of course i couldnt just do a small amount of sauce i had to do more than them. and i grabbed the smallest chip.

i was in so much pain. literal tears were coming out of my left eye and i developed an immediate case of the hiccups and my stomach burned for like an hour. oh and i might need a new tongue. but dont worry i did not spew all over the table. it took a great deal of effort but i contained myself. i had my quiet dignity to maintain .

there is my stupid moment of the week.

thanks for all the support

love sister ricker