A last note.....

No letter today, I'm sure Elder Ritchie is busy making last minute good-byes. Here is a text message that I received this morning from a family in Leesville:

I know you will see your son very soon but I wanted to thank you for sharing him with us for a while. He always brings the spirit with him to our home and I really appreciate that! This picture was taken Saturday when he and his companion were at our house for dinner. Thanks again. Blakley family

PS. I'm not sure if anyone but my mother reads this blog, but if you do, thank you. It has been fun posting all these letters and watching my son grow so much over the past two years.

He reports his mission this Sunday, February 24th at 12:30 in the Iona Second Ward.

Y'all are invited over to our home afterward! ~ marie

Going Down Fighting!

Well, we had a good week, we went to Natchez we had some baptismal interviews to do out there then we drove to Baton Rouge for ZLC and then we had to put on a Zone training meeting Friday, so it was a busy week.  We had some good lesson with the Sapps, they were suposed to get baptized this coming Saturday but all of the bishopric is going to be out of town so they had to move it to the next Saturday. I'm pretty bummed I'm gonnna have to miss it, I knew that week they cut off my mission would come back and bite me. But it will be good because Brother Sapp is going to be able to baptize them so he is really excited about that.

Well, I think I'm geared up for my last week and ready to go down fighting. I'm trying to find some of the good roux mix to make a gumbo when I get back, I'll send a package with some when I find it it is harder to find here because it's not Cajun like my other areas.  To bad I can't afford to send home some crawfish, they are just starting to get in season. But we will have to do gumbo for my homecoming and potato salad.

Well, have a good week!

Love y'all,
Love, elder ritchie

Traveler's Itinerary

We received finalized travel itinerary for Sam's homecoming.  He arrives in Idaho Falls on February 21st at 6pm!

 

His homecoming is scheduled for February 24th at 12:30pm!!!

 

Anyone is welcome to join us for gumbo and po boys afterward!

 

~marie

 

Below is the final version of the travelers’ itinerary, please review as there is a possibility of schedule changes. Any changes made to a scheduled flight between now and departure time will result in an email stating the specific changes.

*** This is a NON-REFUNDABLE TICKET; cancelation or change fees may apply.

*** ELECTRONIC TICETS HAVE BEEN ISSUED AND ARE READY FOR TRAVEL, SEE ETKT INFORMATION BELOW. PLEASE CHECK IN WITH A GOVERNMENT ISSUED PHOTO ID TO RECEIVE YOUR BOARDING PASS.

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CHURCH TRAVEL CWT DATE 24JANUARY13

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST AGENT VH/K3 BOOKING REF 24P834

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111 RITCHIE/SAM ALAN 224879-R

FAX : 801-240-5115

MISSIONARY TRAVEL

LOUISIANA BATON ROUGE MISSION

SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

DELTA AIR LINES 21FEB BATON ROUGE LA ATLANTA GA 825A 1057A

DL 5518 THURSDAY RYAN HARTSFIELD JAC

K ECONOMY TERMINAL S

NON SMOKING NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 1:32 DURATION

FLIGHT OPERATED BY EXPRESSJET DBA DELTA C

AIRCRAFT OWNER: EV ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST

AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

SEAT 03C NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

DELTA AIR LINES 21FEB ATLANTA GA SALT LAKE C UT 1200N 216P

DL 1507 THURSDAY HARTSFIELD JAC SALT LAKE CITY

K ECONOMY TERMINAL S TERMINAL 2

NON SMOKING FOOD FOR PURCHASE NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 4:16 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-800 (WINGLETS)

SEAT 21E NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

DELTA AIR LINES 21FEB SALT LAKE C UT IDAHO FALLS ID 502P 602P

DL 4542 THURSDAY SALT LAKE CITY FANNING FLD

K ECONOMY TERMINAL 2

NON SMOKING NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 1:00 DURATION

FLIGHT OPERATED BY SKYWEST DBA DELTA CONN

AIRCRAFT OWNER: OO SKYWEST AIRLINES

AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

SEAT 04C NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

RESERVATION NUMBER(S) DL/GSJ8RZ

RITCHIE/SAM ALAN 224879-R

ETKT:DL/006 7162888850

**IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE

OR SIGNIFICANT DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE

CHURCH TRAVEL (801-240-5111 OR 1-800-537-3537)

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CHURCH TRAVEL IS AVAILABLE 24/7

Super Sunday

Hey y'all!

 

Everything is still going well down, it's been really nice weather it feels like summer down here. It got up to 80 a couple days ago and yesterday it stayed in the mid 70s and was sunny. I think I might have got a little tan.  So I hear there was a power outage at the super bowl haha! That's so typical of New Orleans.  But, go Ravens!  I wore a purple tie yesterday just cause I knew y'all were probably going for the 49ers haha! But it was Ray Lewis's last sesson, gotta go for him and the older brother head coach too.. he let his brother come back a little towards the end from the sound of it.

 

But it has been a good week, we have still been working with the Sapp family especially Haylee and Hayden they are planning on getting baptized on the 16th so I'm pumped, I'll still get to be here for that.  Then we have another 10 year-old that is going to get baptized the 2nd of March. So the work is going well down here, maybe the Lord's peparing me to be a primary teacher of something. I started the Book of Mormon 2 weeks ago for my last transfer, I've had to read super fast cause they cut me a week short but I'm on the last chapter of Alma so I'm looking golden to finish in time.

 

So how did Pete break his collar bone this time? Was he doing something cool or did he just fall??

 

We had a 41 year old lady die in our ward this week she wasn't very active, the family got offended and doesn't come very often but it was a very sad day at church because there are a lot of her relatives in our ward and surrounding wards. I got to see a bunch of people from the Alexandria ward that were related to her. Her funeral is at 4 today so we are gonna go to that.

 

Well, I best be going, but have a great week.

Having fun doing the Work

Hey Dad, no more financial clerk!  Thats good, that seems like it would be a rough job because you don't get to be involves in church a whole lot, always worrying about numbers and reports and stuff. Nothing beats being a missionary though,  you get involved in a little bit of it all. It will be weird to go home and not have as much responsibility. Tell the bishop he will have to give me a calling when I get back so I can keep busy. It's good to hear grandpa is doing well, hopefully that's all behind him.

Well, things are doing really great down here, there are a lot of great people we are working with and we are having fun doing it. That's one thing our mission president emphasises is that we have fun with the work. We are teaching a couple nine year olds so we are making a worksheet that they can fill out when they watch the restoration dvd and we tied one of them up with a tie a little while a go to represent spiritutal bondage and then we taught him how to be set free through the atonement.

Well I better get going, have a great week!
love elder ritchie

January cold snap - Louisiana style

Its been cold here.  It was 35 all day yesterday! It's not quite as cold today. Thanks for picking up the package, just leave it somwhere safe. It's just random stuff that was heavy so I sent it home when I had the chance.

Well, I was gone from Leesville from Monday to Saturday night this last week, we went to Baton Rouge to see Elder Packer Tuesday and Wednsday and then Thursday we had to do an emergency exchange in Pineville and then Friday I just went to Alexandria with a new missionary and go to see some of the people in my old area.  We had stake conference Saturday and Sunday was the regional broadcast. Elder Cook gave a shout out to our mission! On Tuesday night me and my companion stayed in the mission home just the two of us with the mission president and Elder Packer and their wives. We got to eat breakfast with them in the morning before the meeting and talk with them, it was pretty cool, he is a really smart guy.

Well, transfers are this week and I'm staying here with Elder Lee for my last transfer to finish in Leesville it looks like.  I heard Carly is going to Paraguay, she sent me a letter the other day. Haha that would be funny if Nolan proposed haha! it wouldnt really surprise me though. I thought she was leaving on Valentines day was what her letter said? But maybe that changed. That would be sweet to see her before she heads out though. I started doing a little p90x last week and I've been trying to do a 100 push ups a day so I'm slowly getting back into shape so when I get home and am able to be active again, I'll kill yall in a biggest loser competion!

Well things are crazy busy down here we have to go down to Baton Rouge this week again because the president wants the zone leaders there for the transfer meeting. I was kinda hoping to get released as a zone leader for my last transfer to focus a little more on the work but it will still be good, I like Leesville alot so far. Well, I love y'all, have a good week.

love elder ritchie

Starting the new year with a baptism

Hello,

 

We had a good weekend, the baptism went really well! There were alot of members there to support Reda and she was welcomed with open arms at church too. The bishop gave a really good welcome to the ward talk at the baptism and Reda was front and center soaking it all up and even started tearing up and she even got up and bore her testimony Sunday. It was a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon and the church, she finished the Book of Mormon not to long ago and has been in the doctrine and covenants and really likes that too. Oh, I sent my package home with the Densons so it should be up there soon.

 

We have our meeting with Elder Packer this week down in Baton Rouge so I'm going to try and stop by Darius the Iranian's place and say hi. Hpefully I'll be able to see him, it's been like a year and a half since I've seen him, my president has been keeping me updated on him a little because they go to the same gym in Baton Rouge.

 

 Anyways, that all I've got this week, talk to you later.

 

love elder ritchie

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