How are you all doing? I am sorry I couldn't write last week. We had no time. We had to go marry a family so the husband could get baptized. This last week we baptized three amazing people, and the week before we baptized one. Their names are Erika and her little eight year old daughter, a lady named Rosario, and the kid who got married, Carlos. They are all so amazing.

This new area is great. It is about five times bigger than my last one, but I love it. We do a lot of running between appointments. We have been working really hard these past two week and we are already seeing the fruits. Elder Rodriguez is great. He is from Chiuahua. He has the same time as me in the mission. We get along great.

So I am excited to talk to you all on sunday. Are you ready for the call information? haha The number is (0155)56198955. Please call on Sunday the 8th of May at 2:30pm. That is 2:30pm in mexico city time. I am pretty sure we are an hour ahead of you so it would be 1:30pm there. But please check. You still might be in church, but that is the only hour I can do it. Sorry. Sunday nights are filled with meetings and reporting. haha If someone answers in spanish just say my name, Elder Ricks. Cool?

I love you all. if anything changes, I will let you know during the week. love you. Christ lives!!!

Elder Ricks

Pictures and a Letter

Alright... sorry about last week. I honestly had no time. That is life as a zone leader. I don´t know if I told you, but las week we went to these amazing waterfalls. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We had to hike about four miles, and it was pretty much straight up. but it was worth it. I wish you all could have seen. I will send pictures. I am not going to lie, it made me miss Fairview Canyon. We will have to go visit it later.

So just last week we baptized an 81 year old lady and it was so amazing. When we first met her about four months ago, she told us that she was never going to change her religion and that she would never get baptized. And four months later... what do you know. She is such a funny old lady. Her name is Josefina

Well, we just got told our changes last night. It looks like I am going to be heading to Churabusco as zone leader with Elder Rodriguez. I am pretty excited. I have been in this area for six months now. I got to meet some amazing people and make some amazing friends, and best of all, I had the chance to help people start on the path to eternal happiness. I am so glad I got to be here so long. I learned so much. I promised a lot of people I would come pack to visit, so, Dad, you better be getting ready.

Isn´t it pretty crazy that in less than a month I will be talking to you all again on the phone. Crazy how time flies right? I am so glad to be on a mission. I still have a lot to improve and a lot to live out here. I am glad for that too.

I hope you all are doing amazing. Let me know how life is treating you all. I love you all!!!!!

Elder Ricks

This was a great week. General Conference was amazing and what topped it all off was the baptism we had between the two sessions on saturday. It was so amazing. I have always wanted to baptize between sessions and I am happy that it happened this week. Things are going great here. I am so ready to be better and to work harder. The messages from General Conference really helped me. I feel like I have another chance to start over and really take advantage of every second of my mission. I realized that I still don't quite understand the importance or the greatness of What Christ did and His church. I have so much to learn and so much revelation to recieve. Did you all like Elder Bednar's talk on revelation? About the three types and how he compared them to light? He actually gave the exact same talk about four months ago in a special stake conference for a few stakes here in Mexico City. I love it!! I am pretty sure that is going to be one of him classics. Did you hear the talk by Elder De Hoyos? He is in the area presidency here and I gat to meet him and shake his hand just a few months ago when he came to my zone. He is a great guy.

We just got news this last week that Elder Dallin H Oaks and Elder Rasband are going to be coming to our mission on the 17th of may. It is going to be great. I can't wait.

So how are things going in Utah. I sure miss it, but I don't really want to go back. haha Seeing the Conference Center and Temple Square really mad me think about home. Ha ha. I hope you are all doing amazing. This week I realized that a lot of us are failing with our baptismal covenant. Like what was said in conference many times, we really need to help other people more and show them our love. I love you all. Keep smiling and share that smile with everyone.

Hey family!!!! This week was pretty great. To start out the week we had two baptisms planned for Sunday, but one was going out of town for the weekend, so we had to move her date to the 9th of April. We were a little sad because we put two as our goal for baptisms for this week and now we were only going to have one. Then, on thurday, out of no where one of our investigators that we hadn`t been able to talk to for a while, calls us and says he wants to talk to us. The next morning we met him in the church and he said he wanted to get baptized this Sunday. It was so amazing. I know God is helping us in this work, and when we work to show him our faith, he always blesses us in one way or another. The baptismal service was great. Enrique and Teresa are their names. I will send pictures next week.

The area presidency made an invitation that we baptize every week. I know we can do it and I am so excited to try. I love being here!!!

Things are going good and the work keeps coming and coming. I am so excited to General Conference this next weekend. What a blessing it is to have a prophet.

So how have you all been? I hope things are going great back at home. I can't even begin to explain how greatful I am for all of you. I am so glad that I have the chance to be with you forever. But this all depends on this life. We need to keep working and improving every day. I love you all so much.

Hey everyone. Thanks again for all your emails. It is always great to hear how you are all doing. It is so crazy how life just keeps going on. One day I am thinking about the mission I will serve, the next I am entering the MTC and the next I am halfway done. I am so glad I still have another year to improve. So I am guessing that the snow is all gone now. Que triste. That is one thing I miss a lot. ha ha

So life is great here in Constitución, Iztapalapa. We have two more baptisms this weekend and so far three with date for April. I am way excited. I have now been in this area for five and a half months. It is going to be hard to leave all these amazing people. We are finding some very chosen people here as well. We just came from an appointment and I know she is going to get baptized in April. Her name is Silvia and she is so ready for the gospel. Did I tell you that my campanion has a huge fear of dogs? It is so funny because there are soooooo many dogs in the streets here. His fear has caused him to jump on to walls, run screaming down the street, pushing me into a car because a dog barked. It is so funny and it makes the days very amusing.

I want you to read a scripture for me. it is in 1 nephi 11:1. In this scripture you will find what we need to do to be able to recieve revelation. If we are not recieving personal revelations, it is because on iniquity (moroni 10:24). We need to search for personal revelation every day. I love you all. I know Jesus lives and this is the only true church on the face of the earth. Be happy

One Year!!!!

Can you believe that in just a couple days I will have one year? Time goes by way too fast. So how are you all doing? How is life back at the ranch? It sounds like you are all doing amazing. Just two days ago we had two more baptisms. An older lady and her granddaughter both got baptized. Their names are Maria del Carmen and Dayana. The change in this sister was one of the biggest I have seen in my whole mission. When we first met her she didn't really take anything serious but now she is in second Nephi in the Book of Mormon. She has become so much happier too. Right now we are working on her son and her mom. It was such a great service. I will send pictures!!

So life is amazing here. There is a ton of work but that is what makes it fun. There is never a dull moment. The people we meet every day are so great. People still stare at me all the time, but I kind of like it. Here is mexico they stare forever and don´t even care, so when I see someone staring at me I just stare back. They don´t look away for anything and pretty soon it turns into a staring contest. It is so funny.

About a week ago I bought another set of scriptures in spanish and I am now going through them and marking them good. I have so many new things and I love it. I love the scripture. I have a goal to finish the Book of Mormon, D&C, PGP, and the New Testament before I finish my mission. I am so excited. It is so amazing how we can find every situation in our lives in the scriptures. If any of you want to take this challenge with me go right ahead. I would love the company.

I love you all. The thought of you keeps me working hard and keeps me close to the love of God. Be happy. Querer es poder. Look those works up, then go read Helaman 3:27-29. I love you.

How are you all going? All your talk about snow is making me miss skiing. The weather here is pretty mild. Right now we are just entering the hottest months, then comes July and August which is just a lot of rain. I am excited for those months. I love the rain. It actually rained Saturday night and it was great. The smell reminds me of Washington.

So how is life? Everything is going great here. I am still with Elder Leon and we have a lot of baptisms coming up. We are both excited to start a new change together. Things have been pretty tough in this area, but I know things are going to get better. We have a lot of new goals and plans to try to pick up the area. I got to interview a little nine year old kid Saturday and it was great. It is so amazing to see how muture some of the kids here are. It is kind of funny because in Iztapalapa you find the most stupid kids that don't have a clue about life or anything, and then you find nine year old kids that pray with more faith than most of the adults. I am learning so much.

It is so great to here about all the amazing stuff you are all doing. I am now getting to the point where everything here is normal. All of my thoughts are in spanish. I actually struggle trying to speak english. Crazy huh! It feels like my life before the mission was just something I say on TV once. It doesn't feel like I actually lived it. I can't even imagine being home. I love it here. I am learning so much and I never want to stop. It is a good thing I still have a year.

I love you so much. I will send more pictures. Life is great isn't it?! Make someone smile every day. Christ lives!! I know it.