Green Bayyyyy- Week 43

Hey everyone! I made it safe here to Green Bay. Sadly not all of my stuff did. In the process of transferring here I somehow lost my tote that had basically all of my study materials and other things like that! But I'm glad to say that it has been found and I will be receiving it soon.

It has also been one of the craziest experiences here since I've been here. As I got the call from President letting me know I'd be transfered here he told me everything I needed to know and then added on 'There is going to be a pretty big difficulty coming your way... You're not going to have a car. But I know that you'll be able to figure it out so good luck!' haha and wow that has been fun to figure out. I have a total of 5 companionships in my District and 3 of us don't have our own car. So one of the English companionships is in a car share with the Hmong companionship, the Spanish Sisters have a car, the other English Companionship has a car and my companionship does not have a car. So we either get to walk or we have to communicate to the car share Elders because the other Elders are about 30 minutes away from us! It's been joyous.

This week was my first week in a Spanish Branch! But we combined with the English ward here for the special service that we had. It was cool! They had English and Spanish narrators. We also had a Branch Christmas party that we were able to attend and meet a lot of the Branch! It was super fun. I love Spanish! It's definitely different from an English Ward.

Thankfully we recieved some bikes from some other missionaries which was an amazing blessing! We used our bikes to go to a couple lessons and tract across town! So it took about 40 minutes to bike there and we were going to tag team a lesson with the Spanish Sisters and the guy ended up now actually being home so we went caroling and met an awesome guy! It's more fun caroling in Spanish I think! I'm not sure why. But then we started our bike trek home and the bikes we had were pretty old and funny story! We got about 2 minutes away from where we were and my companion, Elder Lacey, his bike completely broke! Not even fixable. So we decided we would just start walking home and then we looked at how long it would take us and we said no way! So we called the Elders in the car share and they came to get us which was so nice! But then we were in another predicament because we could either fit the bikes in there and not us or we could fit us in there but not the bikes! So we also had to call the Spanish Sisters to come save us! That took about 30 minutes or so to figure all of that out! So we were blessed with some bikes to get to a lesson and then Satan tried to hinder the work but it didn't work because we still grinding!

We went to a lesson yesterday with a member and the Spanish Sisters and the lady we taught had such a sad situation and all she wanted to be happy. She doesn't know where to look to for peace and joy and I'm just so grateful for the knowledge that we have of our Savior Jesus Christ and for the way that my parents raised me. The Sisters are going to start teaching her so hopefully she will be able to start feeling peace through Christ!

I have been studying a lot about the Plan of Salvation this last week. Partly because I need more knowledge of it so that I can teach it better especially in Spanish, but also just because I'm so grateful for that knowledge that we do have of it. And I think my favorite part to read in Preach my Gospel is the Atonement of Jesus Christ because of Jesus Christ we are able to have the Plan of Salvation! Such a huge blessing. And as I was reading in Mateo 26 (Matthew 26) I came across a verse that caught my attention. Verses 38 and 39 dicen - "Entonces Jesús les dijo: Mi alma está muy triste, hasta la muerte; quedaos aquí y velad conmigo. Y yéndose un poco más adelante, se postró sobre su rostro, orando y diciendo: Padre mío, si es posible, pase de mí esta copa; pero no sea como yo quiero, sino como tú." And that caught my attention because in Spanish it says 'Behold Jesus said: My soul is very sad' and that even He wanted this cup to pass from Him. Yet He did the things He needed to in order for us to become like Him. And I think He says His soul is very sad because He wishes that we all didn't have to go through any pain let alone the pain He went through for us. It just shows how much our Savior loves us and I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we have of Him and how we can recieve joy and become like Him.

It is truly a small world. I met this Elder here that is in my new District and his name is Elder Szendre. He is the brother of the wife of Stephen Moses who is the son of Sherry Moses who is the sister of my dad! Connections everywhere, I love it. 

Sorry this was so long! I love you all and I want you to know how much I love our Savior Jesus Christ and also our Heavenly Father. Have an amazing week everyone. 

DO GOOD, BE GOOD

Love, 

Elder T. Ricks