The day the world didn't end

Hey, we have a baptism this weekend! Reda is getting baptized, she is really excited! Things are going good my comp, still has really bad poison ivy and we have been trying to deal with that. Oh, I got to go bowling Monda,y that was fun. Had more meetings in Baton Rouge this week and it looks like we will be there next week too. We have Elder Packer coming, he's President Packer the apostles son.

 

Yeah, not sure who the new Bishop in your ward is but cool. Oh, will you find out what he wants me to speak on sometime soon? Well it doesn't have to be really soon, I don't wanna worry about it for a little while, but would be nice to think about a little before I come home in case in come across any thing I could use.

 

Oh, so we kinda accidentally played a joke on some missionaries in our zone on the 21st. They sent us a text asking if we were still alive cause that was supposed to be the end of the world, and Elder Lee and I were planning so we were ignoring, slash messing with them and sent them a couple bank texts. Then they sent us a text asking why we sent them and then we sent a couple more so they called us and we answered and started making noise by dropping the phone on the couch.  Then we called them back and didn't say anything when they answered so we hung up and we called back and Elder Lee started screaming and then I dropped the phone on the couch.  Then we kinda forgot we did that cause we were trying to finish planning. Then we were going to bed and Elder Lee noticed there were a couple messages from them asking if we were OK and there was a missed call from President Wall and then the phone started vibrating again saying he was calling and his face just went blank and he told me the president's calling so I said throw me the phone but it was to late we missed it again, so I hurried and called the other missionaries and let them know we were alright because they really thought we were dying and they called President. He called to check on us while I was talking to them so I answered and he asked if we were alright so I told him what was going on how we were finishing planning and forgot to tell them it was a joke (we thought they knew but apparently Elder Lee's screaming sounded convincing) and then he said alright just wanted to make sure you were alright and then he said quit scaring people and we both laughed and hung up. So we learned a lesson; end of the world jokes are only funny till someone thinks your actually dying.  And Elder Lee is convincing, he could be an actor in a scary movie apparently. But we made it up to the missionaries by taking them bowling.

 

So we have a stake conference regional broadcast coming up and one of the apostles should be speaking, I think Elder Cook but apparently he asked our mission for some miracles of investigators coming into the church and Elder Smith, my last comp, said that they asked for the story of Nick and our president said he might not use the ones he selected to send Elder Cook but he was definitely going to read them so that's cool that he is gonna read Nick's conversion story and could possibly use it in a talk.

 

I got to talk to a Mallory a member in Denham Spring that was just returning to activity when I was there the other day. She is fully active and has a calling in the young women's now.

 

well, I best be going love y'all

love elder ritchie
,

The Zone is on Fire!

Hey, another good week here! I was in Markville most of the week on an exchange. we have an investigator that is nine years old  named Alex K. we were working on getting him baptised here this Saturday but we had to push it back, we are trying to make it work so the dad can baptize him and its looking good so far if we push the date back a week or two. 

 

We have another investigator that is in her sixties named Rita that has a date for January 5th. I finally got to met her at church, they had a lesson with her while I was gone but we should teach her again this week even though I'll be up in Many on an exchange I should be back for it. She seems like a really awesome lady and she was saying that she wished she was just baptized already and she is looking forward to getting the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

 

I got to give a baptismal interview to a lady in Oakdale last week that is the wife of the 1st councilor of the first presidency (I'm not sure what first counselor of what first presidency he is talking about here, somehow I don't think he's talking about Sister Eyring - marie). It was a really awesome interview! She had a stroke a couple weeks ago and is doing really well and ever since, she hasn't smoked and hasn't wanted to and thats the main thing that was holding her back. It was probably the best baptismal interview I've ever been in she was really excited and anxious to get baptized already. I get to go do another couple of interviews in Many this week, thats why I'll be up there. Our zone has been on fire lately, most of the companionships are doing really good work and it has really been showing.

 

Yes, I did get the package this morning, so I got to open a few of the presents. We had fun with the paddle balls this morning, it got a little dangerous though.

 

So there is a member here that is moving to Shelley right after Christmas. He said if I needed to send any boxes home I could give them to him. So if there is anything y'all might want from here let me know and I'll send it.  I will probably send some Gumbo Rue's home so I can make a gumbo and some Slap Ya Ma'ma.

 

Thats awesome Dave and Lori finally got sealed! And that everyone is going on missions! And Josh said there is a possibility he might have his call before I get home!

 

So for Christmas we're not really sure what time we are calling yet. It will probably be around 1pm your time and 2pm here we are guessing.  If we don't get to email next week we will have a member text you when we will call or something.

 

So Elder Lee's mom called you, haha! that's funny! I will have to tell him. 

Well, I best be going,

Love y'all!

Love, elder ritchie

Life in Leesville LA

Here is the new address:

204 E. wingate #10

Leesville, LA 71446

We asked him if it would be OK if he had his homecoming the same day as another returning missionary in our ward.

Yeah that will be fine to have my homecoming talk the same day as Jordan Cox.  The sooner the better!

The new area is good, it has Fort Polk an army base on it so it alot different than normal Louisiana.  There are alot of members from all over so its not so much the normal Louisiana culture but its cool to be around all the military people.  The ward changes all the timefrom the sounds of it. 

I dont really need anything for christmas.

Well, have a good week!

love elder ritchie 

Travel Itinerary and a Transfer

This week we got a Travel Itinerary for Elder Ritchie!  His release date has been moved up to February 21st.  He'll be flying into the Idaho Falls Airport at 5:47 pm!

Here's the short note he sent on Tuesday:

Baptism went great! Jen is doing awesome and is super committed to the gospel.

I'm getting transferred again tomorrow, probably to Leesville.

Have a good week.

Love, elder ritchie

Thanksgiving card

Our Thanksgiving Card from Sam

Hello Family,

Just thougt I'd send a card for Thanksgiving and let y'all know I miss ya. Life is good in the South, Mormons are getting a much better rep after the election. They made the front page here talking about how most religions are sticking by our side now and the real winner of the election was the Mormons.

So Jen's baptism is now on the 29th this month because of scheduing work, she picked that day, so Happy Birthday Josh, looks like your getting a new member of the church for your birthday because you never told me what you wanted. There were some sweet white alligator skin boots I was thinking about getting you too, oh well.... So that RPM 5 gum you got me smells just like a monster energy drink. (He sent us back a stick to smell). Well, have a good Thanksgiving!

Love Elder Samuel Alan Ritchie

PS. I thought of the Andrus Girls when I saw this card, it sounded like something they would come up with.

Football on Thanksgiving

Hey, we had a good week, it was slower for missionary work because a lot of poeple were gone or had family in town so it was a little harder to work.  We went to a turkey bowl on Thursday morning and played some football, it's been a while since I played but it was fun.  I relized how out of shape I am. I could still run pretty good but not as good as I used to! haha! We have been playing basketball every morning at 6 for about and hour so thats helped but I'm thinking I'm going to have to try and do a half marathon or a full one sometime when I get home.

 

On Thankgiving we went out to a small little town in the Pineville's area and ate with the Yost family. They have a bunch of kids in the Pineville ward and one in ours, they also have a missionary out in Tacoma Washington right now, he is the youngest son and usually families with missionaries out watch out for us a little more than average. I think they hope someone is doing the same for their missionary.

 

That's cool Erica's home! I can't believe she's home already! And Genevieve got blessed! That's cool! I wish I could've been there for that, but she sounds like she is going to be the perfect age when I get home so that I can play with her and turn her into a little monster for her parents! haha! I've had some practice with the Andrus kids.

 

Well, Jen's baptism is comming together and everything is looking good for this Thursday.

 

Well that's about all.  I'll telll you how the baptism goes next week!

Where does time go?

Thanksgiving already??? Where does time go? It's finally cooling of here, even though it's been the the 50's at night and feels nice. I'll take the cold at home over this cold, I don't like it.

 

Well, some new news: Jen moved her date to next Thursday the 29th instead of the 15th of December because there was a stake activity and she wanted to do it before transfers come.  Most likely one of us is leaving that next week, hopefully its not me! haha!  I have a pretty good idea that I'll stay but you never know with me, I tend to travel and my companion tends to stay put.  

 

Nick is still doing ggreat! He left today to go back to Michigan for the week, we got him up to pass the sacrament yesterday too, that was sweet. 

 

I cant beleive Erica is comming home already!  That's cool she gets home before Christmas. Knowing her she will probably be married before I get home.

 

Well, have a good Thankgiving even if its just at a restaurant.

Love y'all!

love elder ritchie

The one about Bishop's Chickens

Well, Nick got a calling in the young men's this week, so that was some exciting news. Jen is doing really well, to she is getting more and more comfortable with getting baptized and she is about to finish Alma. The Wagleys were at church this week too, he is a member that has been less active for a while and she is his wife that isn't a member. He went on a mission to Mexico City and now he is a Spanish teacher, he is really cool.  He actually has the facsimile No. 2 tattooed on his back. Haha!  We have a lesson with them this week and we had a lesson last Monday night at the Bishop's and he made gumbo. The Bishop is actually teaching us how to make gumbo today.

 

Oh funny story! So we built Bishop a chicken coop a couple weeks ago but he couldn't find any chickens. So Elder Smith and I decided we were going to get him some as a surprise. So, we went to a farm store and see if the have any laying hens but they only had chicks, but they gave us the numbers to a couple of people that might have some. We gave them a call an find a guy that is selling them for 6 bucks a hen but the paper said $5, but we figured $6 was still good cause Bishop could only find some for $8 at the cheapest when he looked. So we tell the guy we are coming to get them and it turns out he lived in Pineville's area so we went poaching for a bit. But on the way, we decided we were going to barter with the guy and see if we can get 4 chickens for $22 instead of $24 and if not we were just going to get 3 chickens for $18.   When we got there we got him to take the bait so we ended up with four chickens in a big box in our back seat. So we head to Bishop's, then we try and decide how we are going to go about giving him these  chickens.  We figure if he is gone we will put them in the coop and wait and see if he notices. And if he is there, we would sneak them into the coop and then knock on the door and ask where the chickens came from. We get there and his truck isn't there, so we get ready to get the chickens out but something catches my eye, I see something in the coop and my heart sinks,  he already had chickens! So we go out and look and he has 8 chickens out there! We're are super bummed and wondering what are we gonna do now cause he probably has as many as he wanted and didn't want any more.  We panic and just put the chickens in the box on the front porch and head out.  As we are driving down the road, Bishop passes us, so we pull off and wait for a couple minutes to see if he calls.  When he didn't, we head back to his house and we pull up and he is out in the back yard messing with stuff.  We go out there and he starts telling us how he got some chickens for about 20 minutes, then he went and sat down a little ways from the porch and he starts talking to us some more. Then someone called and we are just nervous because there are chickens like 20 feet behind us that we're not sure he even wants anymore because he already has a bunch.  Then his phone rings again and  he starts talking to someone else and tells them about how he got chickens but  he only got 7 and was wondering if his they knew where he could get 4 more chickens because he wanted 11 or so. Well, as soon as he said that me and Elder Smith just start smiling and could hardly hold in our laughter! He finishes up his call and starts talking to us again and we are doing everything we can to get him to go inside so he will see the box. Then the chickens start making noise, so Elder Smith and I  stop and look over and Bishop finally hears because they have been making noise the whole time! He says "What's that?"and we're like "We don't know".  He thought it was the dogs.  Elder Smith and I start toward the porch and he follows us then gets out a head of us and we are trying our hardest not to bust out laughing.  When he sees the box he gets all sorts of confused and I barely managed to say, "Are you expecting a package?" He just starts creeping towards it because it's making noises.  He was really cautious as he got closer to the box.  It was kind of dark on the covered porch and he couldn't see well as he slowly started to open it, you could tell he was all sorts of nervous.  Then he realized that it was chickens and kind of put two and two together at the same time we couldn't hold the laughing in any more.  He said we got him good!  He was super excited that he had  more chickens and started taking pictures of them and us and sending them to everyone! haha! It was hilarious!! 

 

Anyways, everything is going well down here even though  we almost gave our bishop a heart attack with some chickens, our investigators are all doing really well..

 

Love Y'all

love elder ritchie

The one about chickens and missionary friends

So, Nick's first week after being baptized, he got up and bore his testimony! And then they had him say the closing prayer and he was just a stud! ha ha!  We found out his girlfriend is planning on moving down here in December and he wants to propose to her when shes here so if that's the case, I'll be able to go to their wedding if they do it this coming summer, it would most likely be in Michigan cause that's where they are both from. So that will be sweet!  That's one of the perks of going state side.  We had dinner with him on Friday night at Applebees and got the details on everything that he is plotting ha ha!

We have some other baptisms coming up. Jen has a date for December 15th right now and she is doing really well, she is basically a member already and everyone thinks she is too. She said she got the conviction she needs!

Writing your name on the wall with cheese.  What a great past time!



Well, we had and eventful Halloween of driving to a meeting and then driving some more.  I got to give a baptismal interview and then we crashed at Many's apartment for the night.  It was a long day... and then we had to instruct for two hours on Friday in a zone training meeting we put on. But the work's going great.  We have a lesson with the Wagleys tonight at the Bishop's and he is making gumbo. The bishop is famous for his cooking. Everyone knows him and loves his cooking and he is hilarious. We are thinking about buying him some chickens cause he hasn't got any for his coop yet.  We are going to make him name them after us one will be Ritchie and one will be Smith. 

Chicken Coop the Elders built for the Bishop

Yeah that's crazy Heather is going on a mission, she wrote me a letter telling me about it that's cool ha ha! There isn't going to be anyone to date when I get home!  Oh well. So,  is Josh is planning on a mission what about baby Heaps? Is he talking about it at all?  Collin sounds like he is doing great, he said he saw my blog and  said he didn't like the timer, so I had to tell him that was your doing, and I don't put anything on it ha ha! But as long as I don't see the timer I'm good, you can do what ever you want.  

Erica said she is doing great too. I can't believe she goes home so soon! That will be cool, we will have to set her and Eric up ha ha! We could use a Forbush in the family.  What about Rachel? What is she up to?  And tell all the little Andrus kids hi for me and that I miss them and I talk about them alot and that I loved the pictures they sent. 

The time changes makes missionary work hard.  But everything is going really well down here staying busy and look for miracles.

Louisiana Sunset

Well I better get going,

Love y'all

Love, Elder Ritchie

Baptism in Gator Land

 

 

The baptism last Saturday went really well, the members did a really good job of making him and his girlfriend feel welcome. Nick was really happy to finally get baptized, he was saying he wished he would have just done in back in September like we had first talked about but it was good for his girlfriend to be able to come because that was how he was introduced to the church. She gave a talk on baptism at the baptism and told his story about how they met and she introduced him to the church and he just about ran away and was against it but slowly it started to build on him, It took about 4 years to this point. Now he's one of us haha!

 

 

 It's always cool to see someone get baptized and make their way into the church and see them start to understand everything and still be kinda lost at the same time. But they try and work off a lot of faith.

 

 

Sometimes I wish I was a convert just to see the church from a completely new perspective like that, but heavenly father knew I'd probably struggle with that. I bet some of the members were a little confused when he got up to get confirmed  in church on Sunday because a lot of them thought he was already a member haha! He would get mistaken as a missionary cause he was always around us.

 

 

Well we are going to have and eventful Halloween this week, we have a zone leader council meeting in Baton Rouge and then we were supposed to go to the temple but we have to drive clear to Many right after the meeting for a baptismal interview so that will pretty much take our whole day and night so not much will happen for Halloween. Last year they had us stay in our apartments at night to keep us from driving with all the kids out I bet.

 

We have a bright future here in this area, there are a lot of good people we have to work with. Jen says she has the conviction she needs for baptism after one her friends was asking her why she was getting baptized, she said that it was just because she knew it's what she needs to do. She still has a problem with the whole baptizing part of it, not the ordinance, she doesn't like to be touched because she says she is extremely ticklish so she is a little worried.  About that about all she can handle is shaking peoples hand and that's still to much for people she doesn't know really well.  She came to church again by herself with out her aunt who is the member and she made alot of really good comments in gospel principles class.  It was on the law of chastity, that seems to be one thing she really agrees with and grew up with.

 

Megan also came to church, I don't know if I have told you that her her husband of about 7 months is a 30 year old return missionary who isn't active but he we started going over there and she said she wanted to learn more about the church and he said he wants his soon to be child to grow up in the church, so she has to be some what familiar with it.  She was at church and it was really great because it was the Primary program and she is expecting so it showed all the kids and what they learn, it was the perfect Sunday for them to come! We have a lesson with them later tonight so we will talk more about it with her then.

 

Well sounds like everything is going well back home, Peter even sent me some pictures. It looks like Genevieve is getting bigger. Thats awesome that there are some more heaps boys in the world I think that's a good thing ,they can be trouble but we will take em ! haha! 

 

 

This is a zoo alligator we saw one down on a bayou a couple weeks ago that was about 8 or 9 feet long and I  threw a rock by it and it almost jumped out of the water to snap at it, it was pretty sweet, I have a picture of it I'll send later.  This is a picture on a smaller one in the same spot.

 

 

 

The hay was in a chicken roost or coop we build at our bishop's. It's cool, it's got a latching door in the back so you can get the eggs without going in the chicken run. 

 

 

It was kinda cool to be able to build something other than the kingdom for a little while.  We got to hang out with our bishop, he is hilarious, he is retired air force and is always yelling and cooking and cracking jokes. Eveyone loves him and his food. We are actually going over there to eat right after this.  Oh and yes mom, we do go into some crazy houses there are some hoarders and real sketchy places.

 

 

I better get going. Have a good week and  love y'all

 

Love, Elder Samuel Alan Ritchie

 

 

Good news and sad news

We were expecting transfer calls this week. We had talked to President a couple days ago to invite him to Nick's baptism this weekend, but he will be at a mission president seminar, then we asked if we would both be here for the baptism and he said yeah, but one of us would have to be coming from a new area to watch it. So we thought one of us would get transferred and my comp has been here longer so I figured he was out and we were telling everyone that was the case but president switched it up on us. We only have one change in our zone so our apartment is staying the same. This will be the third transfer with it the same so that's four and a half months which is pretty sweet. We decided we will all be best friends or hate each other by the end of it.. haha! But one of the other missionaries is going on ten and a half months in his area. I'm hoping this will be my last area cause the work is going so well and it would be nice to have an area for more than five months... if I finish here I'll have been her around seven. Oh, and yes, I would like to fly in to IF, there is another missionary that came out with me that is from Idaho Falls so we will get to fly all the way home together.  Elder Neild and I have talked about it.

Nick's baptism is this weekend and everything is looking good, his girlfriend got her this weekend and she is cool. Nick asked me to baptize him so that will be cool, I haven't baptized anyone for a while now and then he asked one of the bishopric, Brother Cheney, to confirm him. We are hoping the whole ward will be there haha! There are still alot of members that think he is already a member and when they hear he is getting baptized they are a little confused.

Sad news.  We found out the missionary that was in the wreck in Salt Lake isn't going to be able to recover from his injuries and they found he has no brain waves and they are going to take him off the life support this week. His name is Christian Terry and he was from Provo.  He was one of my favorite missionaries and good friends. He was a Spanish missionary, I got to spend a lot of time around in Baton Rouge and he was in my zone again when I was in Thibodaux. He was a great kid, full of energy and loved the people he served and loved life. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Well, back to good news. We have another new investigator named Megan who is married to a less active returned missionary and we have been meeting with them for the last couple of weeks.  She is pretty curious about us. We had dinner with them last night and then we helped them put in a new stove.  It took longer than expected so we didn't get to the lesson cause we had to leave, but she was really sad because she said she read and had questions so that was good news but she was very grateful we helped them with the stove and her husband is way cool too.  He is kind of a surfer and skater so I relate with him  super easy.  I'm able to talk snowboarding with him, something I have hardly been able to do with people down here. They have a lot of potential and they have their first child on the way.

Sherry and Jade are also doing well, we had a couple lessons with them this past week but we had to move their baptismal dates back to around Thanksgiving because Jade is getting her tonsils out this week and we still have lessons to teach them. That's when Sherry's mom will be able to be in town and she is a member and introduced them to the church.

So things are well here. But hey, I'm kinda disappointed with the emails lately! Three sentences from one person in the family!  Tell Josh I'm not gonna email him unless he starts writing me!   And just tell Peter he's lame. Rebecca's doing well though, so it's a good thing Luke married her haha! And Luke doesn't do half bad.
Have a good week!
Love y'all
Love, Elder Ritchie

A letter from the mission office

We received a letter from the mission office today telling us Elder Ritchie will be released on February 28th and where would we like him flown to? We replied back "Idaho Falls, of course!"

So, we have a homecoming date five days over his two year mark. We'll take it!

Yeah!!!!

Giving vision through the fog

We had a good week! Nick had his baptismal interview. Elder Peterson interviewed him and after about ten minutes they came out and Elder Peterson said he was ready and probably the most prepared person he had ever interveiwed and he was able to explain and answer everything perfectly, so that was awesome!

On Friday, the day before,the interview, Nick got us and the Pineville Elders some pizza, so we chowed down at the church and then we had a lesson on on personal finances and food storage. We told him we didn't know much about it but we would try, we ended up finding some church pamphlets about both and they were really good and simple, haha! I'm going to have to keep one for myself, I'm actually going to make a suggestion to my mission president to give them to all the missionaries before they go home haha!

Oh, more good news, Jen commited to a date this week! We had a lesson and talked about how she was doing and we had showed her a Mormon Message by Elder Bednar that talks about being in a fog and seeing light, but its foggy and that you just have to take steps. We were teaching and she was struggling to know what she should do because she is trying to get an answer but hasn't got a firm conviction yet and then we brought up the fog and we talked about how you just keep taking steps and you can see a little further and more clearly. What was blurry before, will become clear. Then we talked about how it's like if you were stranded in the middle of the ocean with no boat, your just swimming and you can't see anything but ocean around and how likely are you to go swimming in a direction? You won't because you don't know which way to swim, but if there is a small glimpse of land in the distance, are you going to swim? And which way are you going to swim? Well, to the land of course. So we compared that to baptism and how if she sets a goal it can give her a glimpse of the land. So we invited her to set a goal and she picked December 15th and she is working on that now. That's good news!

We are supposed to see Sherry and Jade today and we will probably have to move their baptism back a week or two because we still haven't taught them enough because they have been so busy and sick, but Jade has still been going to Seminary and they still want to work at it.

So great to hear Eric is home. What are his plans?

I better get going. I love y'all!
Love, elder Ritchie

Nightline's Louisianna Missionary Episode

Sam mentioned that the news program Nightline was doing a special on missionaries in LaPlace Louisianna.  Sam was in the MTC with Elder Dustin who is featured.  Here is the link to the epidsode - Young Mormon's on a Mission

Hurricane Clean-up in LaPlace

 Some pictures Sam sent from his days cleaning up LaPlace after Hurricane Issac.



Conference was Great!

Conference was really good we watched the morning session at a member's home in the Pineville ward, the ward that shares the building with us. Nick was there and they fed us breakfast it was really good.  We were all blown away to hear 18 year-olds can go on missions now and 19 year-old sisters, that will be interesting.  I don't know how much of it I will be able to see but maybe a little bit. I really like Elder Bednar's talk, the last one on Sunday before the prophet and the one before him was Elder Clarke who came here, it was cool because those two have come to our mission and I've met them.  Then right after the prophet spoke the closing prayer was given by another 70 that I had met, Elder Gibbons, so it was really cool three people that have come here gave talks or gave a prayer the last session I get to watch on my mission... that's a sad thing to think about, that I won't get to watch another one as a full time missionary.. But hey, you should get tickets to next conference!

 

Oh and Jamie from Chalmette was supposed to go to one of the sessions this weekend  with Elder Cranney my first companion and the Merritt's, a senior couple that served down in New Orleans, so that was really awesome.  I got a letter from her a couple weeks ago telling me that she was going, she has been planing on it for about a year because the Merritt's just went home a little while ago they were brand new to New Orleans when I was brand new there too.

 

Nick was able to go to every session, he said he had watched a little before for like 10 minutes and said it didn't interest him but now he said he loved it and it actually made sense ha ha, before he said he was just thinking why are there old guys in suits talking in front of some plants. But he said he got alot from them, he loved President Uchtdorf and Monson alot. Our other investigator Jen was there to at the church we are supposed to have a lesson with her on Tuesday so we will be able to talk about it then and find out what she thought about it. We are hoping that something will impact her because she is really close, she basically just needs to get baptized.

 

 

Well we had some meetings this week, me and Elder Smith had to instruct on companion and district unity  so we had some good visual activities that we did with a table and then one we did with chair that went pretty good.

 

Our other investigators, Sherry and Jade didn't make it to conference they were out of town somewhere but Jade has been sick this whole week and has to get her tonsils out on Thanksgiving so we were able to go by with the bishop and give her a blessing.

 

Well, love all y'all

 

love elder ritchie

Louisiana Friday Night Lights

Hey, we had a great week this week we were down in Baton Rouge Wednesday for some meetings. We were able to go to the homecoming parade for the high school here because Jade was marching in it, she is on the flag team with a couple other members so we went and watched it with Sherry, her mom, and some other the members parents. We also got to go to the homecoming game on Friday night because Jade was performing there also and Sherry wanted us to come, it was really weird to be at a high school game again, I haven't been to one in about 4 years and it just made me realize how immature high school kids are especially down here and none of them have a whole lot of standards. But it was a good experience to spend time with Sherry and get to see Jade preform. Jade and Sherry and Nick and Jen were all at church on Sunday so they are all doing well and making progress.

We had another lesson with Nick on Lehi's dream and then we talked to him about his baptism and he is still looking good for the 27th and is telling everyone about it.

A bit of sad news, we just found out that one of the missionaries that served here, Elder Christian Terry, just got in a wreck in Salt Lake on Friday and is in the ICU and in a medically induced coma and has 3rd degree burns. He was one of my good friends, he was a Spanish missionary that I got to spend alot of time with. Je has been home for about 4 months so keep him in your prayers.

Anyways, have a good week!

love y'all

love elder ritchie

Just another week wearing the badge

Just another week wearing the badge... smashing through walls and attending sacrament meeting in shorts and seas of unnamed celebrities in yellow tee shirts and then cap it off with and awesome lesson after an exhausting weekend and a long drive in sweaty dirty slightly moldy clothes..

 

Well we had another weekend of service down in Laplace gutting more houses.  They are wrapping it up down there, well missionary wise anyways, it was our last time helping out but members will still be working and volunteers are still coming in. It was really cool though getting dirty and helping people that needed it very bad.  We got to have another sacrament meeting in a gutted out church and in shorts and bright yellow tee shirts, it's weird and almost to comfortable to be sacrament meeting but the spirit is still there so its all good and the hymns were sounding excellent because 500+ men and a few women singing hymns about service while they are doing service really brings the spirit.

 

Right after lunch yesterday in Laplace we had to head out and make the 4 hour drive to Alexandria because we had a lesson with Jade and Sherry, it went really good. It was really reverent for how many kids were there, the member's house where we taught at have 6 kids so we were a little nervous but it went really well. They are really solid and really want to work to get baptized. Sherry has had her prayers answered in the past about it and he daughter said she will work on praying and getting one but that so far she really feels good about it. So we are basically focusing on teaching the daughter and its kind of a refresher course for the mom because she has had the lessons before. They committed to be baptized on the 27th of October so if all goes well there should be three baptism on that day.

 

So yesterday I go a little freaked out because Elder Rennie the noob that we live with came up to me and said "Happy 19 month mark!" and I was like "Wait! What? No its not!", then I looked at my watch and it was! I didn't even realize it time just keeps going faster and faster. When does Erica come home? It's in November right? And Eric gets home next month, and then everyone in our ward will becoming home like Shawn and Zack and Jordan! When did Shawn leave? November or December? And how are all of them doing? I haven't ever heard anything?

 

Love y'all, have a good week!

 

love elder ritchie

Some things in September

We had another good week here, we haven't been down to La Place again but we are going to go this coming weekend. We couldn't get a ride down there this weekend because all out members went the week before.  

 

We found out Nick is planning on getting baptized in October now because of scheduling with his work and girl friend, so it will be the last week in October. 

 

We haven't been able to have a real lesson with Sherry and her daughter Jade because they got sick this weekend and had to cancel but we found out from the member that they are already talking about baptism and wanting to get baptized. The daughter has been going to seminary every morning and we decided to go play some early morning basketball today and poke our head in seminary and she was there again and she was paying attention! Her friend that is a member was saying that she loves seminary and is excited when they pick her up at 5 in the morning and the member was like  - how are you so excited!  We found out the mom actually has a testimony as well because we were talking to the members and they were telling us about the last time she was really investigating and she was really praying and she got an answer about it and then she was like, well I want the missionaries to come over today if its really true  - and she waited and waited and then 9 rolled around and nothing, but at like 9:15 there was a knock and the missionaries were there and she was super excited but said they would have to come back the next day and she would tell them why she was so excited. But she ran into some people that anti-ed her and talked bad about the church after so she kinda got away from it, but when she was talking to the members she was saying she wishes she would have stayed with it and gotten baptized. So the members were really excited to share that with us and in turn it made us really excited.

 

There are a couple other investigators we have where we have kinda hit a wall and were not sure where to go cause we have taught them everything and they are living basically everything just not sure if they want to join yet. But one of them just got to Alma and is still reading and praying but Eder Smith and I are convinced she has a testimony, she is just working on conversion which is good and she doesn't realize she has a testimony but when we had her teach us the restoration she taught it like she believed. She just had a really hard time with her feelings and especially expressing them, but it will come.

 

That's awesome Josh is wants to get his papers in by July, who knows maybe he will end up in the south too.

 

I'm still waiting for more pictures of Genevieve.... I get a book about my dogs and then I have a niece and i get like 5 pictures in an email....

 

Anyways, love ya

 

love elder ritchie

Cleaning up after Isaac

Hi Family,

 

We got to go down to LaPlace and do some hurrican clean up service this weekend. We got to tear out sheet rock, rip up floors, and tear out cabinets There wass about 3 feet of water in most of the houses we worked on. We even got to have a Sacrament Meeting down there on Sunday in our work clothes and bright yellow Mormon helping hands shirts. We had a crew of 8 missionaries on Saturday and Sunday and we knocked out 4 houses. We gutted them and took out just about everything up to about four feet high. It was a really cool experience to help the people there, they were really impressed with how quick and well we worked and very thankful. One lady we helped said she couldn't figure out where her church was and why no one had contacted her and that she was going to look into ours and see what its all about because we obviously know what we are doing. It was really cool to see how the church responded so quickly and how much work they have done. Missionaries from our mission have been working all week there. We don't get to stay all week because we are to far away, but we will probably get to go down again this weekend and help again and maybe the next weekend as well if it is still needed.. After about a week with everyone that had been working, we helped with over 200 houses and probably getting close to 300.

 

We also had a good week this week in our area, Nick figured out that he will be planning on getting baptized on the 29th if everything goes according to plan with his girlfriend coming down.  We were able to meet some new investigators last night that our elders quorum had talked to before the storm, he was helping her with her generator and he answered a question about a child that had died over 20 years ago and had been troubling her ever since. She said she had talked to lots of churches about her child and they had never been able to answer and make her feel good about it till then. She came to church this past weekend, we didn't see her because we were in LaPlace but we went to a member's family home evening last night and they told us to come and meet her and her 14 year old daughter. We found out her daughter had even decided to come to seminary because she was friends with one of the members of that family that was her age. So those were some pretty big miracles going on this week.  It's been cool because all the people in LaPlace were so grateful and kept telling us we would be so blessed for helping them and we could definitely see some immediate results! It was awesome!

 

You should send some more pictures of Genevieve.. real physical pictures like in the mail or did you forget you could send mail to me??

 

Anyways, take care!

 

love elder ritchie

Hurricane clean-up video

No letter from Sam this week, just a link to what he's been up to.   

    

Mormon Church helps clean up in LaPlace after Isaac
       

After the hurricane

Hello, sounds like a crazy week. That's good that nobody got hurt in your wreck mom and that it was just the trailer that took it all.

 

Well I experienced my first hurricane but we didn't really get hit at all it kinda missed us somehow. I'm not really sure but it sounds like down around New Orleans got hit pretty hard. We might get to go down with a clean up crew from our ward this weekend, we will go if they get a call so we are hoping that will happen. We were on lock down Wednesday and most of Thursday but it wasn't terrible, there are 4 of us in the apartment and then some other missionaries in our district came from Marksville because there apartment isn't in a great place and we are on the second floor. We hardly got any wind or rain when the hurricane passed over, we actually got more rain the day after.

 

Well everything is still going well with the investigators, Nick is still just working on a date, we showed him the prophet of the restoration movie last night..

 

Not a whole lot new down here though kind of a slower week because of the storm but our zone was really blessed to not get affected very bad.

 

Well, tell all the Sederbergs hi for me and that I wish I could be there for the funeral.  I'll sure miss seeing Aunt Brenda, she was a very special person.  You will have to tell Maria I make sure and look for her every time I watch the choir. I've found her in a couple videos like the pioneer day celebration.

 

Well I best be going, have a good week

Love y'all.

Love Elder Ritchie

Answers like flecks of gold

Sounds like you had an eventful week. That's really sad about Todd dying but that's really cool about Gandpa getting sealed to his parents. I was looking at the family search website and trying to figure out the Ritchie lines a while ago because grandpas dad wasn't sealed till 2005 so that was kinda surprising to see. Wish I could have been there for that one.

 

But we had an awesome week, I got to go explore Many and it was cool. It was all hills and trees and we were right close to the Texas border and you start to feel like your not in Louisiana anymore around there. Even here in Alexandria is alot different than I'm used to but its great.

 

So we had a lesson with Nick on Friday after he had just flown in from Omaha and we were talking to him about how it is going and he was still reading and praying but still unsure and the lesson was on the law of chastity which went really well and he said it made alot of sense and that he would live it but that he was still working on his answer and almost seemed sad that he hadn't got an answer yet because he has been working at it. So we talked to him about how answers come slow sometimes and that it like finding a ton of gold flecks instead of nuggets which are rare and uncommon. But on Sunday we were standing in the foyer or how ever that's spelled and Nick came and said I need to talk to you guys, and me and Elder Smith kinda looked at each other a little nervous and didn't know what to expect as we followed him to the relief society room but when we got in there he got a giant smile and so did I and he started to say after he read last night he prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if Thomas S Monson is the prophet and he said this feeling of extreme happiness came over him and he just smiled all night and couldn't sleep and he even called his girlfriend and had to tell her he said he was going to call us but it was too late so he had to wait till that morning. So he is really excited about getting baptized now and he was worried about what his family will think because they are Catholic but he said that everything usually works out for the better for him and that he knew it was true so it wouldn't matter and it would all work out and maybe they would be able to join. So that was an awesome miracle we were able to witness this week! He said he is working on a day to be baptized, he wants his girlfriend to be able to make it down here for it so he had to talk to her about that.

 

I'll try and get a picture of my boots, they are sweet! These computers don't let me put my pictures on them to send so I'll work on it.

 

Elder Ritchie

Speaking Southern

I like Alexandria  a lot! It is really different than alot of my other areas but its really treating me well. We have some really good investigators that have been a real blessing to work with. Nick is doing really well, he came to every session of stake conference, he was at priesthood and the adult session on Saturday and the stake president started talking to him after priesthood and asked him if he was and elder yet and he was like, no, I'm not a member and it kinda took the stake president by surprise. It was pretty funny. He also came to a baptism that was night before priesthood session for a lady that came back into the church and her grandson that got baptized. He went to more of the meetings than most members and he really seemed to like them. He is just working on getting a date picked for baptism and still continuing to get work on his answer, but he says he is pretty sure at this point.

 

Our other really solid investigator, Jen is also doing well and she came to the baptism and then the adult session and general session of stake conference. We had a lesson with her and her aunt who is the member and they made us tin foil dinners because they asked us what we hadn't had in a long time that we love and we started talking about camping food and we decided on tin foil dinners. And we also had dinner and entertainment, we had asked Jen and Sister Compton if they would be willing to teach us instead of us teaching them and they agreed, so Jen ended up making a power point on the restoration and then after tin foil dinners and peach cobbler we had them teach us. It was a really good learning experience for both of them and they said it made them learn alot because they had to prepare and really know it because we asked questions but they did really well and said they had a hard time covering such a big topic in such a short amount of time. ha ha! They said that it made them appreciate us a little more ha ha! We have alot of help with our preach my gospels and we get to do this all the time too.

 

We also had a lesson with some new investigators yesterday that actually just had their first baby a few days ago. the assistants spent the night with us after our zone conference on Friday and we had lesson so they just decided they wanted to go tract a little bit and they came across the family and set up a time for us to stop by. We went yesterday and taught them a lesson, well to the husband anyway, the wife was busy with the baby, but he seemed very interested and asked alot of good questions and said he really wanted to learn more and he was asking about the South Park play on Broadway ha ha, and he figured it wasn't really accurate.

 

Well I'm not going to lie, I'm not the greatest at making my bed, I have the top bunk right now and I struggle to make it but we are a pretty clean apartment and if not making a bed is the worst part about my apartment I think we are doing good.  (I have a friend who is a mission nurse in California and she writes that the missionaries apartments are terribly dirty, so I've been nagging from a distance - marie)  Well I got to go to Mississippi again this week and see more hills. We went to Natchez and it was sweet because its right on the border and the border is the Mississippi  River.  On the Louisisana side it's all flat and on the Mississippi side it's hilly and there are cliffs and it was cool because they  didn't even need a levy! On the Louisiana side you drive up on to the bridge and then over the river and the other side you can actually just drive straight onto the bridge and you can actually see out aways because of the lookouts over the river. I get so claustrophobic sometimes here just not being able to see anywhere and there are no land marks and if there were there are usually trees. But its not as bad here as it was in Denham, there are solid trees there and its still green as it gets here. It's been pretty dry this last week, we have had rain but not alot. It's actually in the 70s and 80s the last couple days so it has been really nice.

 

Well, I'm going on an exchange to Many (pronounced nanny with and m) Louisiana pronunciation is crazy!  Guess how this city is said "Natchitoches" (nack-a-dish)! And my speech is just getting more and more Southern. I said ax instead of ask the other day and didn't notice till my companion said something.  And I said are we going to go "make some groceries"!   It's finally getting to me!

 

Well that's all for this week

Love y'all

Love Elder Ritchie

A Super Busy Good Week

Hey, we had a really good week this week, it was super busy but really good.

 

We had a zone leader council Wednesday down in Baton Rouge  and then we went to Marksville the same night and got there at like 11 because our ZLC went till like 3 and then we did a temple session with all the zone leaders and president and his wife. We got out at 8 and then made the drive to Marksville and got there at 11ish. Then we worked there the next day with the elders there. Then on Friday me and my companion put on a zone training meeting where we instructed on what we learned in ZLC about the Book of Mormon and how to better use it.

 

We also had a couple really good lessons with Nick and he is doing really well. He has been reading and praying and says he is slowly getting his answer and that he thinks he is really close to baptism. we have also been teaching a girl named Jen that is doing well too. He and Nick were both at church and got to hear president and sister Wall give talks and they were awesome and just what they needed to hear. Sister Wall talked about talking a leap of faith and President talked about the Book of Mormon.  

 

Oh, so we had and NBC or ABC, can't remember which, but they came and did a story about a set of missionaries in our mission, one was one of my former companions Elder Curtis, it was pretty sweet from the sounds of it. They followed them tracking and teaching and doing service. They said the story should be out the end of this month or early next month so watch for it, hopefully the put in on the church website when it does come out.

 

Well that's about all I've got this week.

Love y'all

Love elder Ritchie

Zone Leader in Alexandria

Hey, I'm in Alexandria!  I've officially been in every zone of my mission now and served in all the stakes.  My new companion is Elder Smith from Manila Utah. I don't really know too much about our zone yet. 

We do have some sweet investigators. One was a guy named Nick that's about 23 that came to church the Sunday before I got here, he had just recently moved down her from Michigan and his girlfriend from up there is a member and he has been to church before and has read but never met with the missionaries, so I was able to be there for the first lesson with him and he is awesome. He is really looking for the truth and he even came to the ward activity we had at Kincaid lake and got to meet some members and then he came to church again and we had another lesson with him right after. We learned about the word of wisdom in Sunday school and we thought it was maybe going to be a little  much for him but he liked it and said he already lives it basically and doesn't even like coffee or tea very much, so that part would be easy for him. We invited him to be baptized and he was hesitant saying he needed more of a sure answer but he feels like its true just not positive yet.  We assured him that if he continued to study and pray he would be given the answer. So we are excited for him, he is super prepared he has been out to Utah before and his girlfriend graduated from BYU and he is hoping she will move down here and he says they read over the phone at night.

Well, my new area is alot different than every where else I've served, my companion has been out just over a year and he has only served in this zone and there is another missionary we live with that is the same way and alot of other missionaries in the zone have  served here there whole missions so it feels like a whole other mission. It's pretty cool because I know alot of missionaries in the other zones and now I get some new ones. We also live with a fresh new missionary that's being trained and he is pretty cool.  I like brand new missionaries because the are so eager to learn, well most of them anyways.  Well, this could potentially be my last area if I stay here a little while which is very likely. But I could still have another transfer, you never know. 

We have a very small ward but its good, we have a good bishop who is an awesome cook. I got to eat some bacon wrapped chicken my first day here that he cooked and then had some BBQ at the ward party and then he invited us over yesterday and cooked again.  It's impossible to loose weight these days haha! I've been unsuccessful at it since Thibodaux and that was because there was hardly any members to feed us since most were YSA and in college.

So, Genevieve, that is a long name!  (Genevieve Jade Ritchie was born August 4th to Luke and Rebecca) She's is cute though and it doesn't look like she has any of Luke's facial features so that's good :) especially for a girl.  Will she  have curly hair or straight?  That's cool that Rebecca's brother got to come visit before going into the MTC. what mission was he going to again was it Alabama or Mississippi?

Well, that's about all I've got, its going to be a busy week this week we have zone leader council in Baton Rouge Wednesday and then we go to the temple after and then we have a zone meeting Wednesday that me and my companion have to plan and put on. I've forgotten what it was like to be a zone leader and how many meetings there are, but I did get a good break to just work so I can't complain.

Well, that's about all I've got this week!

Love y'all

love elder Ritchie

oh my new address is: 1400 King Richard Blvd #237 Alexandria, LA 71303

Transfer Time

Hey, so news from the South:  I'm getting  transferred! Not really sure where yet but my time in Denham is up for now.  I made it over 4 months here so that was good, and it was a really good area.  I loved the ward especially.

 

President called us last night and my companion is staying and I'm  going to go be a zone leader again somewhere, and that's about all I know.  I'm kinda hoping I'll get to go back to New Orleans and see some of the people back in Chalmette because the zone leaders there go to the same ward as Chalmette. That would be really sweet to be able to got down there after being a way from it for a while. I'm really gonna miss alot of the people here though, it has been good working with them especially Mallory and Richard. 

 

Our bishopric has been awesome, they are they are probably funniest bishopric out there. We ate dinner at the second councilors last night and the bishop and his family came for FHE and they showed us some of the pictures of them waiting around while their wives were shopping and they were wearing crazy plaid suits that were way to small.  This is the same one that we bought the Thor hammer for,  he takes it to PEC and ward council because they call him "The Hammer" and if anyone gets out of line they have to deal with him.

 

We had a really good scripture study this last Wednesday, Mallory sent us a text before it started and asked if we were hungry and we said sure so she showed up with Cane's fried chicken and everyone in the church was walking by being jealous. Needless to say, there might be some better attendance in the future.  Feed them fried chicken and they will come.

 

I think its baby season, everyone is having a baby down here too.

Just another week in the trenches and swamps

Hey, sounds like things are busy there, I'm glad I dont' have to be there for the baby shower.  I'm sure Peter is soaking it all up for me, he is the one that loves that kind of stuff :)   Anyways, nothing really new this week just another week in the trenches and swamps of Louisiana.

We had an investigator committed to come to church, the one that just got a new car but Satan is clever and he saw the batman movie shooting on TV and he has social anxiety already and he said he just couldn't do it after seeing that. Brandy couldn't make it either were not really sure why. But Mallory was able to get a calling as the Young Women's secretary and she seemed really excited about that.  She was sad that she won't be able to make it to our scripture study class that we have been having because it is on the same night as Young Women's so we are going to have it an hour earlier so she can make it to that as well. It's a fun class, she has been our only faithful attender.  Occasionally we get other but she is always there.  We just read a few chapters and talk a little about them.  We have been in the Isaiah chapters and I always joke about skipping them and she always get mad at me and last week I taught the class and had two priests with me to help teach and my companion was out with another priest, because I had the priests I was able to skip out of Isaiah for the night ha ha!  This week we had the other Denham elders there and Elder Gentry, the one I trained in Baton Rouge a year ago sang a solo at the end of the class because we were talking about the ACapella group that I'm going to start when I get home and he is going to be lead singer.  I've drafted a few other singers and I'll manage it. It's jut a big joke because we were all such horrible singers but Mallory heard about it so she wanted him to sing something and after awhile we talked him into it :) I tried to film it but he wouldn't let me.  So I wanted to send it home so you could witness it for yourself... ha ha! Oh, I also have a couple other videos I need to send home, I have one of that alligator snapping turtle getting its head chopped off, that is pretty cool.

Well I don't really know what else to write, not a really eventful week, alot of rain! I'm going to miss the rain when I go home because it doesn't really rain in Idaho it sprinkles but it doesn't rain like here. You can have  six inches dropped on you in a couple of minutes and it's like someone is dumping buckets of water on you when you walk outside, it's sweet but then the humidity comes.  You know when your going to the ski hill and you stop at the gas station, or better yet Green Canyon and the windows are super foggy, well, it gets like that after it rains and then it gets hot  because it gets cold inside and so hot and humid out side its like the opposite of Green Canyon and when people wear glasses and go from inside to outside their glasses fog up... I think Idaho would be fine if they had just one of the storms we get here because it would give it a year supply of water in one storm.  I can only imagine if all that rain we get down here was snow instead, that would be cool, there would be like 30 feet!

 

anyways, love y'all

love, Elder Ritchie

That Super Righteous Guy

We had a good week, one of our investigators who got in a car wreck and doesn't have a job got a free car so that was pretty cool. He has even been reading the Book of Mormon and knows this was a blessing so that's always good.

 

B. wasn't able to make it to church, she had to go back to the hospital and then she was staying in another town but she has read into Alma and says she knows its true but that it has just been really hard for her to make it to church. But she does have a testimony of the Book of Mormon so that is good.  She was asking about Melchizedek because of the blessing she received and she said she knew who he was and that he was a super righteous guy, but she was wondering why they said his name in the priesthood blessing she received, so we told her about it and it made perfect sense to her.

 

 

Well we didn't have anything really new happen this week just working with what we have.

 

 

Oh, I asked for a due date for the baby and still haven't heard one..... you people aren't very good with the question and answer thing.

 

Well, love y'all

 

Love Elder Ritchie

Growing a Garden and the Gospel

Well, we had a rainy 4th of July so we didn't get much accomplished, it's been really rainy here which has been nice cause its been super hot but with the rain comes even worse humidity but it's nice while it rains. I don't know if I told you this, but we have a garden growing on our porch, we planted ghost peppers and bell peppers and peas and they are all growing! We even have a bell pepper that's almost ready to eat!

 

 

Well, we found three new people to work with last week that seemed really interested in learning more. It was the fiance of less active. He has been a member his whole, life just drifted from the gospel, but his sister's husband got baptized a year ago and they just got sealed so it has made him want to start coming back to church and get his fiance and her kids into it.  He was trying to explain the church to them and it was going over their head so we went and gave him a hand and they said it made alot of sense when we explained the restoration and the 20 year old daughter was really excited when we gave her a Book of Mormon. It's funny when we give people a Book of Mormon and they think they have to buy it from us and we are like no its yours, all you have to do is read it and pray about it.

 

 

 

We are also still trying to meet B. we sent missionaries to her in Baton Rouge to give her a blessing because she had surgery last Friday. She was very grateful and she said she is recovering better than expected and said it was because of the blessing. But we have yet to meet her so were still hoping this will be the week.

 

Well, that's about all I've got  love y'all have a good week!

 

Love Elder Ritchie

 

p.s. the first week of my mission I've heard from all my brothers at once...... did someone die or something??

Drama in the district and on the stairs

Well, we still haven't been able to meet B. and she didn't make it to church.  Her friends and the people she is living with wouldn't let her go to church on Sunday and ended up taking her to the ER because she is supposed to have surgery next week. But she still wants to be baptized and is trying to make it.  She has read to Mosiah and loves it and she says she knows it is true. People just have to deal with so much adversity when they start investigating or after they join down here.  It just helps my testimony grow more and more because people attack the church when they know nothing about it and you can just see Satan behind it all so clearly and how he is pulling the strings and just getting people that don't have the truth to keep others from having it. But Satan can't win so its all good, just have to have patience and keep trusting in the Lord and it will all work out.

 

Well, we had a little drama in our district this week and we are now in a trio, one of the missionaries in our district is now in our companionship while he's waiting for a missionary that is actually from Mississippi that was doing a service mission in our office. He is going to serve a full transfer with Elder Gentry.

 

I'm not sure what we are doing for the fourth yet, just kind of another day as a missionary though. Last year it was on our preparation day so we played softball and grilled, that was the week after I almost broke may ankle though so I was a gimp and couldn't really play.

 

 

Remembering the ankle

 

So on Saturday we were leaving our apartment early in the morning to go help someone work on their house that is moving into the ward, and we walked outside and were about to go down the stair well and I saw a man passed out on the stairs. He was awake and his eyes were open and he was breathing but he was unresponsive, so we had to call the ambulance to come get him. We were pretty sure he had been there all night. He lives on the third floor he was on the stairs and they think that he fell. We were talking to some other people that live by us and he was not looking good the night before when they saw him out by his car.

Teaching through texting

Hey, we had a really good week this week! We received a refferal from the office lady that was about a lady that was reading the Book of Mormon and loved it and really wanted to come to church. This was Friday when we got the refferal. So, I called her and she said that she was at the Baton Rouge stake center and met a member and he was the one that called the mission office. She wanted to meet with us Saturday and come to church. After that she sent us a text asking what she should read from the Book of Mormon so we just told her to start from the beginging or where ever she was reading.  Then she went on to tell us how she has studdied religions all her life and had never been religious because she has never felt any of them were right, so she just keeps studying she said she was spiritual but not religious. Then she got a Book of Mormon somehow and someone told her to read it and she has loved what she has read and she said she has never felt like she has about a church and that she knows it was true and her insides were leaping for joy. Then she went on to tell us she wanted to get baptized and asked us what she would have to do to be baptized and she told us that she had repented. So we told her that we can talk about how she can get baptized when we meet with her because this was all through texting haha! But we weren't able to meet with her on Saturday because her best friend that she normally borrows her car (she is 39 by the way) said she wasn't going to be her friend anymore if she goes to that church and she can borrow her car if that was where she was going because we were going to have the lesson at the church. We had a dinner appointment with a member family out by where she lives that we invited her as well but she said she wasn't as comfortable with that yet because they would have had to go pick her up and take her back so she didn't  want to impose. But she said she would come to church the next day. But before church she texted us and said that she didn't realized it was going to be such a big deal joining this church and that people are ignorant for judging what they had never studied so we told her that Satan would stop at nothing to keep us from hearing the truth and she could atest to that. But she told us how she had just finished 1 Nephi and she was talking to us about it and asking questions about the brass plates and who the Jaredites were and told us some scriptures that really stuck out to her so she is doing her best. and we have just been trying to help her out. She actually thinks its only me when she texts because I was the one that called her at first and so she is always saying "Thank you so much Mr Elder Ritchie, you mean so much and I'm so greatful for what your doing to help me", and we have told her that I have a companion named Elder Hausladen too haha! But we haven't been able to get across that we share the phone even though we always use we or us instead of I or me.. haha!  It's just different for people to grasp the concept of two people sharing a phone.

But we are hoping to meet with her so we can help her out and see where she is so we can get the members to help her out. She wanted to meet with us today but we said we couldn't and she said Wednsday would work for her so we are hoping to see her Wednesday!!!   So keep B. in your prayers that it will work out cause she really wants to join the church! 

So it has been an exciting couple of days and you can't ever say that texting didn't acomplish anything! haha! I've always joked with my companions about teaching someone through texting and how it would be kinda cool, didn't think it would ever happen. But I'm hoping we don't have to anymore.

Oh mom, I told that story about your friend paying her tithing and two of her houses going up for sale right afterward to a recent convert that we think had been stuggling with tithing because her husband isn't a member and possibly gives her a little bit of a hard time for doing it.  It meant alot to her, so it was pretty cool. She got baptized 8 or 9 months ago and she is around our age and found out that her mom that lives in Kansas is going to get baptized  the 30th of this month so she really wants to take the temple prep class that's about to start so she can go through and get sealed to her parents a year from now because he dad is already a member. There is also another recent convert family that just attended the temple prep classes that is about to go and a bunch of other also, so our ward is doing really good right now. Oh, and M. the former less active we have been working alot with went to girls camp as a kitchen help and has talked to the bishop and wants to take the next temple prep classes that start in July.

So I had a dream I went to Lake Powell with y'all last week and I had to wear my white shirt and tie the whole time so I couldn't swim, it was weird. Even in my dreams I think I've completely forgot what its like to be a regular person. When we are going to play basketball or something and we stop somewhere and people don't give us different looks trying to figure out who we are is really weird cause then your just another person to them.

No one would beleive me you can buy Tony's (our favorite Cajun seasoning) outside of Louisiana, but its offical its at walmart!  Haha! Cause everyone asks me if I will fill my bags with Tony's when I go home and I'm always like, no I have it at home already.

Tell Josh to say hi to the rougers and Steve for me.  And have him tell Franz that if I was there I would boss him around because I have a year on him.

Well, that's about all I have this week!

Love y'all,

love elder ritchie