Sister Ricker

this week was good.

saturday night we went to a baptism for an 8 yr old in the ward. she and her family are super active but her mother wanted her to have the lessons just as a good preparation for baptism. that has been a great opportunity for us. it gave my companion some good practice since she is brand new and it strengthened my testimony of the importance of teaching these things in the home. this little girl has such a good grasp on the gospel and she is such and example of love and trust. i want to give my children such a good foundation. i want them to have the same advantage in life this i was given as i was raised in the gospel.

we were able to take our young investigators to the baptism. it was really good for them to see that. before the baptism we met up and talked about what baptism is.

sunday we had investigator come who said that he would have to work. that was a really pleasant surprise.

im kind of done typing so i hope y’all have a good halloween.

love y’all
sister ricker

yep you guessed it…another great week.

ill just jump around as i think about things. so sunday night there was a missionary fireside for recent converts and investigators. wow!!! it was so good. it was basically a bunch of recent converts getting up and sharing their conversion stories and their testimonies. that was so powerful and motivating for us missionaries. i was especially impressed by the youth that have joined on their own with out their families. they really fought to be able to be baptized and they clung to what they knew was true. their conviction was so strong and sincere. they know these things are true and they couldnt deny it. they reminded me of a girl i taught in my first area. she will be 18 in a few months and she is so excited to be able to be baptized.

this week we had some really good lessons. i told you in my last email about a man that came to church a few weeks ago and we had a good lesson with him. well we saw him twice this week and he came to church on sunday. the members have been doing an incredible job making him feel welcome and i know that is playing a huge part. the members we have taken to our lessons with him have really connected and added so much to the lesson. we had a recent convert with us and he shared his experience and it was just what our investigator needed.

lets see what else…oh the girl i told you about that came to church last sunday, we’ve seen her twice. she read what we left her to read in the book of mormon (3 Nephi 11) and she had a question from what she read “how do you know where that authority to baptize is?”. WOW! Heavenly Father sure does know what He is doing.

last night was cool. we taught the plan of salvation a new way. we did it at the church and we took our young investigators from room to room. each room representing a different stage of progression (pre-earth life, creation, the fall, our life, etc…) for our life on earth, we created a maze/obstacle course in the gym and we blindfolded them and then one of us told them how to get through and the other one of us tired to get them lost. it was cool and i think they enjoyed it.

i love teaching the gospel. i love teaching it to children and i love teaching adults. its just so good!!! it makes since and it brings such light into our lives.

sister sarah ricker

this was a great week…seriously one of the best on my mission. let monday night…oh wait…i told you about that in my last email…

okay we’ll jump to wednesday. so wednesday, we had an appointment with a man that came to church a few weeks ago. seriously that was a great lesson. i wish we could bottle up what we felt there and share that with everyone. the Spirit was so strong. he is such a good man and he has such a sincere desire to know the truth and do what is right.

friday night we had a dinner appointment with a part member family. we had only briefly visited with them one or twice but he but he said to come back on friday and he would make us dinner and we could talk. cool huh! so we showed up but noone answered. we left one of our signature sticky notes on the door and were about to leave when we got a phone call so that delayed us. meanwhile he pulled up. good thing the Lord was watching out for us and delayed our departure cause it was a really good appointment. his wife just hadnt heard us at the door. as we were eating we told us he had a ton of questions. we answered them and we ended up doing a quick first lesson. it was so good. we are going to be teaching him regularly now. he and is wife have really been searching for something.

then sunday we showed up at church and one of the members brought a friend of theirs who was interested. she stayed all three hours and really enjoyed church so we are going to be teaching her too.

the Lord has really been blessing us lately. He has led us to so many good people who are ready. there are a lot of good things going on right now.

thanks for all the support
love sister ricker

so last week i told y’all about a lady that we had tracted into a few weeks ago and gave a book of mormon to. well last night we stopped by and she was excited to tell us that she read what we left her and then some and she shared with us the scriptures that stood out to her. it was really cool cause as she read one of the verses i was smiling cause i thought i knew exactly what Heavenly Father was trying to tell her. but instead of giving my two cents, i decided to wait. she went on to tell what she felt He was telling her and how it helped her resolve something that had been bothering her. i was way off. once again He really does know each one of His children, what they are going through, and what they need to here at that point in time. He is so good.

it was cool to here her share an experience she had, the beginnings of a testimony, whether she realizes it or not. the book of mormon really is amazing. she said “its pretty easy to read, i think ill just start at the beginning.” pretty cool huh! that experience alone made up for the day before. yesterday was a really good day. we also got in with two less-active families neither of us have ever met.

we had several return appointments from tracting lined up for sunday, we were really excited. but all 3 three of them were missing in action. good think we were riding the general conference high, or it would have been much rougher.

my companion is awesome. life is pretty good here.

hope all is well with y’all

love
sister sarah ricker