SIX MONTHS!!!

Hey!! How`s it going? so things have been a little crazy this week. We had transfers so I am getting to know my new district. Elder Heredia and I are still here in Cuauhtemoc but we just found out last week that we now have two areas. There are usually about 200 elders in this mission and right now we have about 135. There are a ton of missionaries and companionships that have to preach in two or three areas. Right now Elder Heredia and I have both Cuauhtemoc and Buenavista (which roughly translated means "fairview" ha ha). It is a lot of work because we know nothing about the area or the ward so we are pretty mush starting from scratch. I am really excited and I know it is just more blessings.

The work is going great. We already have three people with a baptismal date for Octuber and a couple more that are really close. I love this area and I am already scared to have to leave. The people are so great. I am so blessed to be a missionary and I can´t believe that I have already been out for six months. It is pretty crazy.

Espero que todos esten bien. Por favor disculpenme por mis cartitas. Es que no me gusta escribir mucho y no tenemos mucho tiempo. Voy are mandar mas fotos a Hailey para que ustedes no esten tan enojados conmigo. Tambien voy a tratar a mandar un video en unas semanas. Perdonenme por no poder hablar con cada uno de ustedes. Muchisimas gracias por sus cartas. Me encanta leer las cada semana. ¿Pueden enviarme mas fotos? Solo tengo uno de la familia. Tal vez algunos do Redfish o de Matthew jugando futbol americano o algo asi. Gracias. Los amo muchisimo. Sè que esta iglesia es la iglesia de Jesucristo y que Èl vive.

Elder Ricks

^^The Priesthood. ha ha ^^

^^The food is amazing!!!^^

^^The sister who cooks for us almost every Sunday.^^

^^My zone^^

^^I just love this mask.^^

So how is everything going? Everything is great here. The only thing we saw from the hurricane was a little rain, but a little rain is normal for here. The mission president told us all to stay in our house saturday and sunday, but it wasn´t bad at all, so we went out and worked. haha don´t tell anyone. Everyone was all scared, but nothing happened. Right now the air is so clear and clean. I have never seen it this clean before. it is really nice.

I think I told you that I was going to tell you an amazing story this week, so here it goes. So about a month ago we were walking home after a long day and we passed this young man and a middle aged women in the street waiting for a bus. We said buenas noches and kept walking. When we looked back they were both staring at us so we decided to talk to them. It turns out that the young man was a member and the lady was his aunt. She said the wanted to hear about what we teach, so we set up an appointment for the next monday. well... fastforward about three weeks. We have already talked about José Smith and the book of mormom. We went again to her house to kind of tie it all together. We started talking about prayer again and how she needs to pray. We invited her to pray and she said okay, so we all knelt down to pray. After about ten seconds she still wasn´t saying anything, so I opened my eyes to see if she was waiting for one of us to pray of something. When i opened my eyes and looked at her, I saw that her mouth was moving, so I started to say me own prayer in my heart for her that she might recieve her answer, and my companion did the same. About halfway through I felt a distinct feeling that she was recieving her answer in that moment and right when I felt it, she started to cry. She prayed for about ten minutes like that. After, we started to talk about what we all felt and we all started to cry. Right now she is already asking to be baptized. I am so excited and happy for her.

Anyway... that is one of many that I am experiencing here in the work of the Lord. We just baptized another family last week and they are so solid. Their name is Deseusa and they are already making plans to get sealed in a year.

I hope you are all doing amazing. I love you all so much.

I am so sorry, but I have no time. I know you want to hear some stories, but there is nothing I can do. I love you all. Next week I will write a lot I promise. I have an amazing story for you so remind me. I love you so much. Smile and show Christ you love Him.

A New Letter and Pictures!

Hey!! How is everything going? I am pretty sure that my letters start out the same every week, but oh well. I hope you guys are all doing great. It is so great to hear from you every monday. It sounds like you are all having a great time and that makes my happy. I miss you all, but I don´t want to come home. I hope you can understand. It is so great to be out here and I can´t even begin to explain how much I am learning. I feel bad that all of you can´t be out here with me, but you all have your own experiences and you shouldn´t trade them for anything.

So this week was okay. well, every week is good, but this one wasn´t quite as great as others. Just a couple days ago we had to drop a family, or I guess they kind of dropped us. It was the famliy of Ramses, the kid who was dying to get baptized just a couple weeks ago. The one daughter who is 17 years old still want to learn a little bit so we will be working with her, but Ramses and his other sister are starting their first comunion in the catholic church this week. It is hard because I feel like we could have done more and now they don´t really want anything.

There were some good things this week though. A family got married this saturday and they want to get baptized within the next couple weeks, so that is a good thing. We also had three new investigators come to church this week and they already have a date for the 16th of this month. I am so excited for them. This are going goo, but I know they can still improve.

Matthew!!!! What is up bro? Dude, I don´t know your email. You need to email me so I can write you back man. Mom and Dad told me that you are doing great in football. I hope so. Just remember that you can never go back in time, so you better play every play like it is your last. Hit so hard that they are scared to play the rest of the game. Hit so hard that they remember your name and number the whole season. The harder you hit the less it hurts. When you are running the ball, you make sure that you hit them harder then they hit you and I promise you will never get hurt. Keep it up man. Represent your name "Ricks". Love you bro

I love you all and i hope you have a great week. The word "condemnation" is all over in the scriptures. You know what is means? Condemnation? It is when we are stopped in our progess. Don't let it happen. I love you

Hey guys. I don´t really have a lot of time, we are running last for an appointment, but I wanted to say hi and thank you for your emails. They always make me happy. I am glad that you are all doing great. Everything here is going great. Time is flying. I am already a little scared to have to leave. I wish I had time to tell you everything that is happening. spanish is going great and I am forgetting more and more english everyday. It is going to be so hard to have to speak in english when I come home. it is going to be funny though. My companion is great, but it is like babysitting. He does a lot of random things and I have to control him sometimes, but it is fun and I am learning patience. I love you all and sorry for the short letter. Be happy for me. I love you, and never take the gospel for granted. I can{t explain how great of blessing it is.

Pictures!!!

Well, things are going great here. Remember that kid I told you about in my last email? well, we went back to visit them tuesday and the first question he asked me was "what do I need to do to get baptized?" It was pretty surprising, but he said that he wanted to get baptized the next day, but we are going to baptize him with the rest of his family in a couple of weeks. I am way excited for him and for his whole family. Anyway... I wanted to share that little story with you guys.

So how is everything going? oh ya... my nieghbor is member and her and her daughter want to see pictures of utah and of the mountains by our house and pictures of snow. so... If you could, please sent me some pictures of our mountains and of redfish and of us in the snow. haha thank you. It was so funny, last night we were talking to them and they couldn´t believe that we can sleep outside without getting robbed and that we actually go camping. They thought that was something that is only in the movies. They asked what it feels like when it snows and what the mountains look like with all the snow. It was a lot of fun expaining everything to them. They want to visit utah during general conference so I told them that they could come stay at our house when I finish my mission.

So summer is finally over!! how crazy is that? That went by pretty fast. I hope it was fun and you guys got a lot of stuff done. I hope you guys are all doing great. I wish I could explain everything that is happening here, but this why it will be more fun when I come home and get to tell you everything. I love you all!!!

***Taylor also sent me a bunch of pictures that I'll put up later when I'm not at work. Get excited!!!***