Called To Serve: December 2011

December 26, 2011

Hello!!! How's everyone doing?

I'm doing great. I'm so tired but it's a good tired. It's the kind of tired you get when you have just finished a huge school project and you got a awesome grade on it. But it's a constant. Everyday I get out of bed and try to get going (I'll be honest, I do struggle exercising but I do get up on time, that I do). And all the while Satan is trying to pull me down by drying to discourage me by putting thoughts into my head that I don't want to do something, or I'm too tired. But I've become better at pushing those thoughts down and away and move past them. It's such a life changing experience being out here.

Looking at where I am now, spiritually, compared to where I was before my mission, it's like night and day. Before my mission I knew what the Gospel was, I didn't understand why we had it or really how it fits all together. Now, I know why we need to have the Gospel and it's not just "a nice thing to have". I understand more clearly, what the Gospel is, and I understand how to apply it in my life and how it all works together. It's the most amazing thing in the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ makes bad men good, good men better, and brings more joy to your life than any, literally, ANY other thing.

This past little while I've come to see everything in a different light. I'm beginning to look at the little things and seeing how amazing they really are. For instance, take.............. a nut. Inside that tiny little thing, whatever kind it may be, is the ability to become a mighty tree. Just take a nut and stare at it at think about what it holds and how many life lessons we can learn from it. This is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ helps you understand. It helps you understand EVERYTHING (or almost everything 'cause we're never gonna fully understand how everything works but we can understand the basics).

This gospel is the only way to have true happiness. I know you hear people say it again and again, but you know what, it's said over and over again by the Leaders of the Church because it is from the Lord.

I know that to be true with every particle inside of me. This is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love Elder Ricky-Dude
--
P.S. The Church is true!
P.P.S. FROG - Fully Rely On God

December 19, 2011

So this past week was interesting and fun

I have to be honest, I don't remember much of this past week. Everything is going by so fast that it's all running together. It's really starting to worry me because it just shows how long I've been out. It's so much fun though. Especially when you get to see someone who just came out on his mission that you used to go to school with. (Yes, I did see someone that I used to go to ALA with). He just got out here last Wednesday and I saw him at the missionary choir practice we had. We have a missionary choir singing in the Miracle of Christmas at the Richmond Metro Zoo and he is in it also. We're gonna have about 30 - 50 missionaries singing in the choir and it's gonna be great. Sister Perry is conducting us which is really exciting.

Oh oh oh oh oh!!! I have to tell you this awesome experience I had yesterday!

Okay, so we were having choir practice and it was Sister Perry's birthday yesterday. So, Elder Monibidor, the Bon Air sisters, and I came up with the idea to have everyone start singing Happy Birthday when Sister Perry starts conducting. So, in the choir practice when we were about to start singing Joy To The World and Sister Perry hit the first beat conducting, we all started singing Happy Birthday. It completely threw her off and for the first few seconds she was like "what page are they on?" Then she started laughing and she laughed so hard that she started crying. It was AWESOME!!!! The elder who was playing the piano was in on it too and he just stopped playing after he played the first chord. It was a memorable experience.

I love music. It has such an awesome effect on people. It softens hearts, builds testimonies, and brings the Spirit better than almost anything else. This is the time of year when the Spirit of God can rage like an inferno through peoples hearts and souls because of what we're celebrating. This is a time when hymns of praise are heard everyday by everyone. Take advantage of that and sing your testimony to everyone you can. That's what I'm going to do.

I promise that hearts will be touched and lives will be changed when you do that. I know that that is what happens when we bear our testimonies through song and giving. That's my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love ya,

Elder Ricky-dude

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

December 12, 2011

I get to stay in the Midlothian Ward through Christmas and New Years!!!!!

It's gonna be fun! I'm so excited to be here for another six weeks. We've been having a lot of fun here in the Midlothian area. Last Saturday we had our ward Christmas party and it was AWESOME!! We had a talent show and the elders quorum president got up and sang a song about a missionary and his girlfriend (sung to the tune of "Hey there, Delilah"). I was laughing so hard I was crying! It was so funny because I've had companions who have talked about their girlfriends everyday (and I was with them for three months). It was awesome. There were some other performers too and it was so cool. I was bummed though because I didn't know how to sign up for it before that night. But the sister in the ward who was in charge of it asked me if I wanted to still do something when I told her about my predicament. So I got to sing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I was pretty scared but the ward enjoyed it, so it must not have been that bad.

Other than that, we've been doing missionary work and having fun times, like my companion getting a flat tire on his bike when we're like a mile from our car. But we were able to find this pretty neat potential investigator before that happened.

We were biking and knocking on doors but we weren't having any success. My companion asked me "is this the most productive thing we could be doing?" Then we both thought about it. As we were thinking about it, we were wanderingly riding our bikes and we ended up in a driveway. We went and were about to knock when the door opened. We talked to this guy and told him we wanted to share a message with him. He asked how long it was and my companion said 45 minutes instead of a few mintues (because you can share the message of the Restoration in about 5 mintues or less). The man said he didn't have that much time but we could talk to him as he walked to his mail box. So we talked about what we share and when we got back to his house, he said "come on in and keep talking". We ended up talking for about 45 minutes about the Book of Mormon. He showed some interest and said to call him next month because he's busy with the holidays. But we got his phone number and address and gave him a Book of Mormon.

I love this work!!!!!! You have no idea how much fun it is to share the gospel with people and to see how it affects everyone differently. We had an awesome lesson yesterday with one of our investigators who is really close to being baptized. We had the lesson in the church right near the baptismal font. We found out that she'll get baptized once she understands how everything fits together (like the Book of Mormon, the Priesthood, the Prophet, etc.) Once she understands that she said she'll be baptized. You have no idea what joy that brings to a missionaries ears when people say they'll be baptized. IT'S SO AMAZING!!!

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

love,

-Elder Ricky-dude

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

Pictures
They're both a picture of a squirrell sitting on top of a mailbox. I just thought that was funny and wanted to share my insanity with y'all.

December 5, 2011

So this past week was interesting....

This past week was Leadership Training so we had four other missionaries stay at our apartment with us. It was pretty fun....... and crazy. Because my companion and those four missionaries were going to the Leadership Training, I went with the Manchester elders for the day until the training was over. After the training I would go and get back with my companion. It was fun. We did a lot of service during that time.

The most interesting part of the week was yesterday morning. We went to see this one investigator who is a practicing Catholic. He's really smart and knows his bible very well. It was an interesting conversation we had with him. We started talking about the Book of Mormon......... and I don't remember where we ended at because we talked about so many different things. I was just sitting there listening to what the guy was talking about and what my companion was saying. I didn't say anything because I didn't feel the need to. I would think about what I could say and the Spirit just told me to let it go. So I did. But this guy is a really nice guy and he's a computer programmer and he's already told me about a lot of different things I need to look into when I get off my mission. He's even gonna keep in contact with me when I'm home so that he can help me. He's pretty good at what he does so I'm excited.

We also have an investigator who committed to be baptized!!!! Woohoohoo!!! (As Brigham would say) The only thing is she's really busy this next little while and she's going to be out of town until January. So we're gonna set a baptismal date for sometime in January. But she is so prepared. She's only read the introduction and the testimonies of the Three and Eight Witnesses, and the Testimony of Joseph Smith and she already believes it's true!

Man, I love this work!!!!!! There is no where else I would rather be that right here, in Virginia, serving the Lord my God. This work is so COOL!!!

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

-Elder Ricky-dude
Pictures

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

1 - This is a street in the Manchester Area. I got a picture of it when I was with the missionaries down there.