Hey, just get grandpa a big dog... little dogs are no good! I still haven't got that package you said was comming but I'll keep looking for it (I sent it to Longview Ave instead of Longridge Ave and it came back!).
We had a pretty good week except it's transfer week and my Spanish roommates are leaving. One is going home, he is 27 and from Honduras, his name is Elder Sandres he is an illegal and was supposed to go to Boise but they found out he was illegal and sent him here because he lives in Texas. Now so his parents just get to pick him up. Elder Dehart is leaving too, he came to Louisiana the same time as I did and this is the only place he has been so he is way excited to leave. They aren't replacing them so it's just going to be two of us in our apartment now. It's not going to be as fun but it's going to be alot quieter. I'm staying here another 6 weeks at least, but I'm pretty sure this will be my last transfer here because I've done two and a half transfers here and that means I'm going to have at least three and a half here, and I doubt they will have me do more, hopefullly, I kinda want a little change, but it can wait. I'm just not looking forward to two people in our apartment.. but the work is going good and that is the important part.
Our mission president spoke in our church on Sunday and we had three unexpected investigators show up that kind of had fallen of the map. The mother said the wanted to get back on the path and was really insisted they were going to be baptized! They are a super cool family! It's the mom S. and her two daughters D and D (14 and 9), but the husband is a "baptist". we were actaully talking about John the Baptist in one of our lessons and he walked in and said "see John had it right he was a Baptist" haha!
But everything is going good here, tell both of my Grandma's thanks for the letters! I've been trying to write them back I have the envolopes filled out and ready but haven't had time to write the letters yet, so just tell them I love them and thanks and I love the letters! It's so nice to get letters I love it! I think my favorites are from my family and Jamie down in Challmette. It's so awesome to hear they are keeping the faith and loving it! There is nothing like it!! Well I'm out of time, they have us emailing our president's letters now so I don't get quite as much time to email.. but everything is going swell!!!
love ya bye
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Service and Sweat
Well, we have been doing a lot of service. We moved a whole storage unit the other day and I got to use my rock garden planting skills the other day when we helped a less active member figure out how to install a rock garden and then helped her clear the place and we are putting the rocks in this week sometime, so thanks Mom, I didn't appreciate it at the time, but I guess it paid off! haha. Our new mission president is putting a big emphasis on service! So that's awesome. I've been able to wear my jeans a couple times and get dirty - oh yeah, and sweaty can't forget the sweaty, its ridiculous how sweaty you get, you can loose like 7 pounds a day of straight sweat..
We saw a pretty crazy fight going on this week, there were like 30 people involved and baseball bats and straight up fist to faces! haha It was in a pretty rough area so I flipped around and got out of there as fast as I could, haha cause that's all they would want to see, the only two white kids for miles around driving by. That and people always mistake us as some kind of police, haha.
We also were able to teach our Iranian friend D.H.'s family this week and they really liked it!
Oh mom, I actually just read about Saul/Paul on his way to Damascus and how he was converted, I read the story of Alma the younger not to long ago too so I kind skimmed over both and compared a little bit both really awesome conversion/missionary stories! (I asked him for some help on a lesson I'm giving)
We have been eating out a lot because its been a lot easier, but I'm still doing good keeping the weight off and we have been running now because my ankle is finally able to, it still is at only like 70 percent but its getting there.
Well that's about all I got time for today. love ya
love elder ritchie
We saw a pretty crazy fight going on this week, there were like 30 people involved and baseball bats and straight up fist to faces! haha It was in a pretty rough area so I flipped around and got out of there as fast as I could, haha cause that's all they would want to see, the only two white kids for miles around driving by. That and people always mistake us as some kind of police, haha.
We also were able to teach our Iranian friend D.H.'s family this week and they really liked it!
Oh mom, I actually just read about Saul/Paul on his way to Damascus and how he was converted, I read the story of Alma the younger not to long ago too so I kind skimmed over both and compared a little bit both really awesome conversion/missionary stories! (I asked him for some help on a lesson I'm giving)
We have been eating out a lot because its been a lot easier, but I'm still doing good keeping the weight off and we have been running now because my ankle is finally able to, it still is at only like 70 percent but its getting there.
Well that's about all I got time for today. love ya
love elder ritchie
Monday, August 15, 2011
Do me a favor and steal my Book of Mormons and Motab CDs
Everything is still good here, nope we didn't get our investigators baptized, they kinda fell off the face of the earth for a while but we got back in contact with the family and I let them borrow The Testaments a couple weeks ago and they said they watched it and really liked it. We just gotta stay in contact with them now but it's harder now that school started. Oh yeah, school started last week here, it's pretty crazy to start the first week of August.
Our Iranian friends family got back and they came to church this week, they looked pretty weary and nervous at first but at the end Brother Maughan had like half the ward go over and get to know them so they seemed a lot more relaxed when they were talking to people. D. seemed really happy that they we able to meet people. We actaully found a good video on mormon.org about a lady that speaks Farsi and is from Iran so we are going to try to watch that with them some time and I think his wife will really like that.
I can't remember if I told you but my companion's bike got stolen last Monday. He hadn't even ridden it yet. I felt super bad cause I probably should have locked it up for him cause the gates on our apartment complex have been broken so anyone can just drive in lately. We think someone got into our car but there's not much to steal in there unless they are looking for a Book of Mormom or some motab cds and that would probably be doing us a favor on both fronts :) I'm sick of motab and they would be taking what we try to give people everyday haha. I still want some good music by the way I'm counting on some Enya soon, I actually borrowed some but its her Christmas cd so we need more and preferably not Christmas music we have plenty of that unless its really good stuff..
Well, transfers are on the 31st so not for a couple weeks but I'm most likely staying because the new training plan keeps the trainer and the trainee together for two transfers. But it's not set in stone... Well, bye till next week!
Love ya
elder ritchie
Our Iranian friends family got back and they came to church this week, they looked pretty weary and nervous at first but at the end Brother Maughan had like half the ward go over and get to know them so they seemed a lot more relaxed when they were talking to people. D. seemed really happy that they we able to meet people. We actaully found a good video on mormon.org about a lady that speaks Farsi and is from Iran so we are going to try to watch that with them some time and I think his wife will really like that.
I can't remember if I told you but my companion's bike got stolen last Monday. He hadn't even ridden it yet. I felt super bad cause I probably should have locked it up for him cause the gates on our apartment complex have been broken so anyone can just drive in lately. We think someone got into our car but there's not much to steal in there unless they are looking for a Book of Mormom or some motab cds and that would probably be doing us a favor on both fronts :) I'm sick of motab and they would be taking what we try to give people everyday haha. I still want some good music by the way I'm counting on some Enya soon, I actually borrowed some but its her Christmas cd so we need more and preferably not Christmas music we have plenty of that unless its really good stuff..
Well, transfers are on the 31st so not for a couple weeks but I'm most likely staying because the new training plan keeps the trainer and the trainee together for two transfers. But it's not set in stone... Well, bye till next week!
Love ya
elder ritchie
Monday, August 1, 2011
New missionaries are like puppies.....
Now that I'm a DL, it's tough dealing with missionaries in a Christ-like way sometimes, but it's going good and everyone is getting along better.
My trainee got to baptize his first person on Saturday haha! We flipped a coin for it but I was hoping he would win so he could have a baptism in the first couple of weeks of his mission. I also had him do the confirmation. I told him he was going to do it right before it happened, he kinda got really nervous so I told him "only if you want to" cause I was supposed to. But he did it and it went really well! He is finally starting to break out of his shell a little bit. He has had a baptism every Saturday of his mission so far haha! and he just missed the one the week before... It's not looking like we are going to get the J. family baptized this comming Saturday, but they are still looking promising in the future.
It's tough being a trainer though and turning lessons over to him when you can tell he has no idea what to say. So we have been working on teaching and he's getting there.. haha! We're working on going 50 percent teaching from both of us instead of 98 percent of me teaching and 2 percent him.. But he is finding his place and starting to get out of the jitters a little bit. It's kinda like having a little puppy follow you around that has absolutely no idea what to do, but like puppies, they grow up fast.
Tell Sophie to wait a couple months to have her birthday and then I'll be happy to do it haha! (Sam's little 6 year-old cousin told her mother she was going to wait till he got home to baptize her, but she turns eight in November and Sam won't be home until February.)
I got to give my first instruction as district leader in district meeting (we have district meeting every Tuesday and the district leader instructs for an hour) I think it went really good!! I did it about the Book of Mormon and emphasised how it along with the spirit, is our best tool for conversion and then I read Alma 37, I think it's the last 10 or 12 verses of that chapter where it talks about the liahona and you replace the word lihona with the words Book of Mormon and it's really cool.. But it was really cool giving a good lesson and I had planned to give it on desire but when I got there I just decided to wing it on the Book of Mormon instead, it went really well though. It was definitely the spirit and not me...
Well it's getting a little cooler down here. It's been raining ALOT! We usually have a pretty good storm every afternooon and it makes it humid but it take the temperature from high 90's to mid 80's so thats nice. I don't really notice the humidity to much any more though except after it rains and the windows on the car always fog up on the outside, it's like driving in a sauna.
Oh, tell Collin's and Dillon's families thanks for the email forwards. It's nice to hear how they are doing, haha, it's weird to think they are in another country now, it still feels like they are just at home doing what they always do cause I didn't get to see any of them leave, but it sounds like its going pretty good for them! Hard but good! I live with the Spanish missionaries and it makes me appreciate missionaries that learn a language so much. I wish I would have been able to learn a language but I've been able to learn and hear about so many other countries and hear so many languages I feel like im in another country.. haha! I decided Africans are my favorite though, they are just the coolest people! We have a family that is from a tribe in Togo right by Ghana and they just tell us about it all the time and there are members from Nigeria and Liberia and we ran into a less active that went on a mission to South Africa that spoke some crazy language that they don't even teach missionaries anymore and he brought out his mission scriptures they were sick!! haha!
I'm kinda obsessed with scriptures now I've been living on ramen noodles cause I bought a giant quad this month that cost 70 bucks haha! I have like 3 pairs of scriptures now haha! I have a pair I color that is just the cheap kind we give away and I've colored it with my highlighters but it's probably my favorite to read cause I have some of the coolest highlighing! I've read through the B.O.M. like 3 times since I've been here!
Oh! they took away the rule of only motab, so send me some good music sometime. I want some Enya! and whatever else you think would work.
Well, thats about all I've got right now!
love ya,
love elder ritchie
My trainee got to baptize his first person on Saturday haha! We flipped a coin for it but I was hoping he would win so he could have a baptism in the first couple of weeks of his mission. I also had him do the confirmation. I told him he was going to do it right before it happened, he kinda got really nervous so I told him "only if you want to" cause I was supposed to. But he did it and it went really well! He is finally starting to break out of his shell a little bit. He has had a baptism every Saturday of his mission so far haha! and he just missed the one the week before... It's not looking like we are going to get the J. family baptized this comming Saturday, but they are still looking promising in the future.
It's tough being a trainer though and turning lessons over to him when you can tell he has no idea what to say. So we have been working on teaching and he's getting there.. haha! We're working on going 50 percent teaching from both of us instead of 98 percent of me teaching and 2 percent him.. But he is finding his place and starting to get out of the jitters a little bit. It's kinda like having a little puppy follow you around that has absolutely no idea what to do, but like puppies, they grow up fast.
Tell Sophie to wait a couple months to have her birthday and then I'll be happy to do it haha! (Sam's little 6 year-old cousin told her mother she was going to wait till he got home to baptize her, but she turns eight in November and Sam won't be home until February.)
I got to give my first instruction as district leader in district meeting (we have district meeting every Tuesday and the district leader instructs for an hour) I think it went really good!! I did it about the Book of Mormon and emphasised how it along with the spirit, is our best tool for conversion and then I read Alma 37, I think it's the last 10 or 12 verses of that chapter where it talks about the liahona and you replace the word lihona with the words Book of Mormon and it's really cool.. But it was really cool giving a good lesson and I had planned to give it on desire but when I got there I just decided to wing it on the Book of Mormon instead, it went really well though. It was definitely the spirit and not me...
Well it's getting a little cooler down here. It's been raining ALOT! We usually have a pretty good storm every afternooon and it makes it humid but it take the temperature from high 90's to mid 80's so thats nice. I don't really notice the humidity to much any more though except after it rains and the windows on the car always fog up on the outside, it's like driving in a sauna.
Oh, tell Collin's and Dillon's families thanks for the email forwards. It's nice to hear how they are doing, haha, it's weird to think they are in another country now, it still feels like they are just at home doing what they always do cause I didn't get to see any of them leave, but it sounds like its going pretty good for them! Hard but good! I live with the Spanish missionaries and it makes me appreciate missionaries that learn a language so much. I wish I would have been able to learn a language but I've been able to learn and hear about so many other countries and hear so many languages I feel like im in another country.. haha! I decided Africans are my favorite though, they are just the coolest people! We have a family that is from a tribe in Togo right by Ghana and they just tell us about it all the time and there are members from Nigeria and Liberia and we ran into a less active that went on a mission to South Africa that spoke some crazy language that they don't even teach missionaries anymore and he brought out his mission scriptures they were sick!! haha!
I'm kinda obsessed with scriptures now I've been living on ramen noodles cause I bought a giant quad this month that cost 70 bucks haha! I have like 3 pairs of scriptures now haha! I have a pair I color that is just the cheap kind we give away and I've colored it with my highlighters but it's probably my favorite to read cause I have some of the coolest highlighing! I've read through the B.O.M. like 3 times since I've been here!
Oh! they took away the rule of only motab, so send me some good music sometime. I want some Enya! and whatever else you think would work.
Well, thats about all I've got right now!
love ya,
love elder ritchie
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