July 25 2011

So this past week was difficult

This past week we had two days where we were told to stay inside from 1pm until 4pm in an air conditioned building because of how hot it would be. The hottest it got was 104. Normally in Utah, 104 would be bad but you could still go outside for a bit. NOT OUT HERE! With 80 - 90% humidity, you step outside and you are drenched with sweat immediately. There have been many missionaries who got heat exhaustion and that really doesn't help with missionary work.

Anyway, besides that, Satan has been throwing things in our way a lot. Apparently he really doesn't want me to do well at all because ever since I hit my year mark, it's been difficult. I'm having a hard time motivating myself because I know that once I start going, everything is going to be thrown at me. It's kind of like being in a mud puddle up to your mid-thigh while trying to make it to a really nice mansion you see up ahead. If you don't move, you're slowly sinking. If you move, you wear yourself out really fast and sometimes you trip and fall all the way into the mud. Then you have to pull yourself all the way out. All the while, the Lord is asking you to carry something and Satan and his wicked angels are whipping you with sticks from all directions, (and they've got shards of glass in the sticks). The Lord helps you by giving you a pole to pull on, but you're hands are covered in mud from when you fall and they sometimes slip on the pole. He gives us armor to where to protect against Satan, but you're covered in mud. What do you do? What would YOU do?

Me................................. After I was done crying, and after I had hit rock bottom and fallen really hard and when Satan is laughing the most, I'd ask the Lord to wash off my hands so I can hold the rod He gives me, and to start hosing me off so I can where the armor. Then, after I'm hosed off and have the armor on, I still slip and fall in the mud. So I keep asking the Lord to wash me off so that when I get to his mansion I'm not tracking mud into His home.

How many of us have felt like we've been stuck in the mud puddle for a while? I have. I'm sick of it. Seriously, it's the worst feeling ever! I'm having a hard time moving again. I'm gonna try my hardest to get moving again so that my family will be blessed.

I love y'all so dab-blam much.

-Elder Ricky-dude

Pictures:
1 - me and my MTC companion Elder Stoddard
2 - Elder White who's in the Petersburg ward
3 - 4 - 4th of July at a members house consisted of over 50 mortars and many more other fireworks
5 - a turtle I saved. He was in the road and I didn't want him to die so I picked him up and moved him to the side of the road.
6 - Staiger - one of 5 of the Mousers dogs. He's a chunky boston terrier. (And whoever said dogs can't smile?)
7 and on... This is when we hiked up Humpback Rocks last Monday. It was only a two mile hike but it was more difficult than hiking the Y because it was almost straight up, basically. Very few spots to rest. And you can see I'm drenched in sweat. But it was so worth it.

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P.S. The Church is true!
P.P.S. FROG - Fully Rely On God

July 18, 2011

Hello everyone!!

So this past week I had my first district meeting that I was conducting. It was weird because I'm usually the one who sits and listens and doesn't lead. It was good though. We talked all about Christ like attributes and about building them. It was good. I learned a lot.

Then the zone leaders went over district meeting and evaluated it with me. They gave me a lot of advice that is really going to help me. I'm glad that I have Elder Hunsaker and Elder Carpenter as my zone leaders because they are really amazing elders. Elder Hunsaker was a district leader for 7 1/2 months so he knows how to do a district meeting. It's awesome.

This Wednesday I'm going to be going to a District Leader Counsel. The first ever. Usually they just have Zone Leader counsels, but President Perry felt inspired to have this meeting. It gonna be awesome.

We had an investigator at church yesterday! The first investigator I had at church since...... March, I think.... yeah, it was March. We were so excited. He's really prepared and has only a few more things he needs to find out for himself before he gets baptized. We are so excited for that.

Anyway, everything is going good and I'm having so much fun out here........ and trying not to focus on the fact that I have a little over 10 months left!!!

I love y'all and hope and pray you are doing good.

-Elder Ricky-dude

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Oh I forgot....

I thought this would be something that might interest y'all.

We had president interviews last week and in my interview President and I talked about how I keep getting put in difficult areas. I feel that I'm destined to be stuck in difficult areas for the rest of my mission. He feels that way too, but maybe not for my whole mission. One thing that he did tell me was that he's planning on stretching me for the rest of my mission.......... I'm just nervous as to HOW he's going to do that...... I may need some more prayers later on...

Anyway, love ya

-Elder Ricky-dude

--
P.S. The Church is true!
P.P.S. FROG - Fully Rely On God

July 11, 2011

So this past week was interesting. Being a district leader is REALLY different from anything else I've done on my mission. You receive a lot more revelation, because you now have to worry about the other missionaries in your district. So, it's been fun because I keep getting ideas of things that can help the other missionaries in my district as well as what can help my investigators too.

So, there's a really cool thing coming to our mission. Actually, three of them. They are pilot programs for missionary work. But I only know about one of them.

The first is Church tours. I know many of you know that these have been going on for a while... BUT, not like this. The Washington Tacoma Mission has been studying what makes an effective church tour for the past year and have refined the process. Now, we have it and we are the only ones on the East Coast who do have it. When the zone leaders told us about it I knew immediately that our number of baptisms will increase dramatically because of this.

The tour starts at the foyer right in front of the picture of Christ. We explain how everything is centered on Christ and briefly explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we move to the Chapel, explain sacrament meeting, then to the sacrament table and explain that. Then we go to the Baptismal font and explain the need for baptism. All the time we ask the investigator envision themselves coming into church, sitting down where they would like in sacrament meeting, and envisioning themselves walking into the font and being baptized. It is going to be very powerful and very effective. I'm so grateful for the Lord and for revelation.

I know the Lord teaches us "line upon line, precept upon precept" as it says in 2 Nephi 28:30.

I love y'all and hope and pray you're doing well.

-Elder Ricky-dude

P.S. I can't send pictures because the internet at this library is REALLY slow. So I'm sorry about that. I'll show them to you when I get back.... in 10 1/2 months..... YIKES!!!!!

--
P.S. The Church is true!
P.P.S. FROG - Fully Rely On God

July 5, 2011

Howdy Peoples!!

So, I'm in the Rivanna Ward which covers a gianormous area. It's pretty crazy. What was really crazy was walking into church on Sunday and seeing about 150 people there. I'm been in branches for the past 9 months so to see this many people at church was a shock. It was crazy because I didn't know anyone and I didn't learn who everyone was while in church. In the Burkeville and Lawrenceville branches, everyone introduced themselves so you knew who they were. Here, there were too many people ...but I like it.

So our apartment is pretty cool. We live with the Mousers, this senior couple who have a giant house. He's a veterinarian who retired a while ago... got bored of retirement and decided to open another practice. It's pretty cool. They have horses, mules, llamas, dogs, ginnies, and a duck (yep just one). Brother Tom White, Sister Mousers' brother, also lives with them. What's really cool is that the movie "Roadhouse" is based off of his life. He owned a bar, knew martial arts, and did a lot of crazy stuff when he was young. He's got a lot of fun stories and a lot of good jokes. And the best part is.... he got baptized last year!!! It's pretty cool.

My new companion is Elder Van Wagoner from Riverton, Utah. He's pretty cool. Probably the most random missionary I've met so far. He's so random it's hard to read his personality, well, at least for me it is. It's awesome!!! We are having a blast up here and we're actually finding people to teach. That, for me, was the happiest part about coming here. In my last two areas, finding people was nigh impossible. And to be honest I was losing faith that we would find someone. I know there's a lot of potential in those last two areas though. We are going to have a lot of fun here in Rivanna.

So, I have two sets of sisters in my district. In the Charlottesville 1st Ward is Sister Chocherhan (I think that's how you spell it) and Sister Ferrin. In the Charlottesville 2nd Ward we have Sister Snell and Sister Brady. Then I also have the Zone Leaders in my district, Elder Carpenter (who I came out with) and Elder Hunsaker. And a Senior couple, the Dahls (pronounced like "doll"). It's pretty fun being a District Leader. It's actually not that much different from being a regular missionary, except that you now have more of a responsibility to serve other missionaries. I'm probably going to be in Rivanna for at least six months because that's usually how long they have District Leaders in a certain area.

But everything is going good. We got to see an awesome fireworks show last night at a members house. They had the big mortar fireworks that go in the air. Some of them didn't go very high up before exploding. Near the end, one actually exploded in the launcher tube. It was crazy. No one got hurt. But it was AWESOME!!!!

Anyway, I love y'all and hope and pray you're doing good.

-Elder Ricky-dude

P.S. my new address is:

Elder James Mangum
495 Deepwood Farm Drive
Scottsville, VA 24590-4459

So now you can send letters and stuff!!!

--
P.S. The Church is true!
P.P.S. FROG - Fully Rely On God

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