Sister Ricker

i hope y’all all had a great christmas. we did. it wasnt white but thats okay. so christmas eve was awesome. we had an appointment with an investigator in the morning and he told us that nothing makes him feel the way he does when he reads from the Book of Mormon or goes to church or prays. he knows its from God. and then he said he really really wants to be baptized. so we set up a date, at the end of january. we are way excited.

also, last sunday we saw another investigator that we hadnt seen in several weeks and he came to church this sunday. that was pretty exciting.

life is pretty good here. im so grateful for the opportunity to focus all of my time and energy on this work. i especially love being able to feel even a portion of the love Heavenly Father has for His children. seriously, it gets me every time. sometimes i can feel it all over, some times i something inside of me screams out when i hear a child of God saying they dont know He loves them or that they arent worth it. NO!!! of course they are!! He loves us so much, we have no clue. this time has really helped me to gain a much greater perspective. i hope i can maintain that.

i hope y’all have a great new year

love
sister ricker

all the snow that came last week is pretty much melted. im not gonna lie, im a little sad. i was hoping for a white Christmas and i wanted to build a snowman. but im pretty sure there is more to come later in the winter. its pretty warm. in the 30s. there has been this nasty fog which is really fun to drive in but for the first time in several days, its gone. there is actually sunshine out there.

well, now that y’all have the yakima valley weather report, would you like to here about the work.

here is a cool random story. and since i was too tired to write it in my journal i figure i should record it somewhere. we had serveral appointments lined up one afternoon but much to our dismay two of them cancelled so we found ourselves trying to figure out what our backup-backup plan should be. we were standing in the snowy grassy courtyard of an apartment complex, pondering and looking through our planners and ward lists seeking inspiration. we sat down in a bench so we could really focus and just as i was asking Heavenly Father where we needed to be up walked one of our investigators. we hadnt been able to see him in several days cause he just got a job. we were so excited. we ceased the opportunity. we ran and grabbed a chair from some members in the complex. (it was on the patio and we left a sticky note telling them we would bring it right back…totally lagit)

we had a very nice lesson and visit right there in the foggy snowy courtyard. it was pretty cool. he was a little surprised to see us and thought it was just a coincidence but we knew better. this was God’s hand. He loves to remind us that He knows what is going on and He is there.

we got a new investigator this week. he is awesome. he is just 16 but he so excited about the gospel. he’s been to church several times and he loves it.

i hope y’all all have a great Christmas. what a blessing it is to be sharing the good news of Christ’s gospel, especially at this time of the year.

love
sister ricker

as we were singing the closing hymn on sunday (Christmas hymn of course), the words really hit me a little more than they usually do. He did come!!!! what a perfect plan this all is. how could we expect any less from a loving Heavenly Father. it all makes too much sense. its too clear to not be right. we are children of God and long before we came here He layed out this perfect plan for us to come to earth go through life and return to live with Him and our families forever. central to that plan and the best part is our Savior Jesus Christ. we are not alone and we never have to be. He was born! and He lives again!!! its perfect and we enjoy the blessings of the priesthood, the power of God to comfort, bless, and perform saving ordinances, is here of earth. Heavenly Father loves us so much!!!!! what a perfect and complete plan, all for us.

we have been so blessed with so many people to teach. which is good cause it is getting pretty cold and the more time inside the better .

we got out first snow last night and we had our first snowball fight. (i won, but shhhh…dont tell my companion, she thinks she won)

love
sister sarah ricker

whats up all. so i heard there was snow in texas, crazy. would anyone like to know what the tempature was this morning when we left the house? 10 degrees. which is much better than yesterday, yesterday it was 0 degrees. the complete absence of warmth (i know that is probably not scientifically correct but seriously it is cold)

but dont worry we were given hot chocolate four days in a row. i think our sad little shivering bodies tug at the heart stings. either that or people dont want to stand on the porch or let the heat out of the house so they go ahead and invite us in. whatever it is, we’ll take it .

no snow yet. it snowed a little but it was just a light dusting. this weekend its really gonna unload. im so excited.

we had Christmas zone conference yesterday. the last of my mission. that was kind of weird to think about. president had us get up and share our testimonies. not exactly the best moment in the mission.

lets see what else happened…oh we had an investigator come to church on sunday who we havent been able to get a hold of in about a month. that was pretty exciting.

life is good here. i care so much about our investigators and pray all the time to know what more we can do for them. i know how much our Heavenly Father loves them i just want them to know as well.

i love y’all

sister ricker

another week already, holy smokes!!!

so, hmmm….where to begin. we had so many people at church on sunday. a whole family of 5, and three other investigators. it was awesome. one of our investigators came late cause he showed up at his fellowshippers house ready to go to church and they slept in so he walked by himself. that was pretty cool to hear. (not that his fellowshippers slept in, but that he walked and came on his own)

Heavenly Father is definitely providing us with a ton of people to teach. so the coolest thing. we were at wal-mart last week and from behind, someone said “hey! are you the sister missionaries that are going to come teach me!” Holy Cow!!! wal-mart really does have everything. of course we said yes, before we even saw who we were commiting to teach. we quickly turned around and saw someone who we have been praying to be able to teach. he is awesome, he’s been to church a ton of times over the years, with his wife. that was pretty exciting.

oh day last week we parked our car at the church and spent the day walking. well at the end of the night we got our car and were driving home. about half way home i noticed a something flapping in the wind stuck to our side mirror. it was the name and address of a person interested in learning a little more. see, i told y’all, sticky notes are amazing!!! they are a missionary’s best friend.

we met her yesterday, she is awesome.

thanksgiving was good. we had dinner with a great family who invited over several members of the ward that didnt really have a place to go. there was one lady how didnt make it. we love her and were sad to see she didnt come. so we stopped by after and brought her some leftovers. and it was really cool. she was kind of down, not really having the best thanksgiving but we got to talking and we ended up on the subject of the Godhead which she said she didnt really understand and she said the didnt think God even had a body “what would he need one of these for? it would just get in the way” anyways, we were able to testify of God and the love that He has for us and how we were made in His image and how could He have and image. we talked for a while about that and how much He wants to hug us when we return home again. without a body He would be so distanced from us, He wants no distance between us, we are His children, He wants us to be able to understand Him, to know Him. to someday see Him. He has a body, a perfect glorified body!!! He is real and He lives and so does Jesus Christ.

anyways she said that nobody had explained it to her like that and now she believes. really i think she just never listened before. but, whatever it is, she understands a little more about who her Heavenly Father is.

i love the gospel!!! it makes so much sense.

sister ricker