Transfer week- Week 48

Hey everyone! I forgot that P Day was going to be on Tuesday until Monday morning. But here we are! I hope that you all had an amazing week. I'm also so happy to share with you all that we were able to reshoot our family pictures and Shay was able to make it this time! Now we have our whole family(as of right now) there!

We were able to find another 5 people this week. Its been very different here in this area than in my last areas. Sometimes I would go 2 or 3 days without speaking Spanish to anyone except for my companion in my last areas but that definitely isnt the case here! We are able to talk to a lot more Hispanics and in return be able to find a lot more people. 

I will have the opportunity of staying here in Green Bay for another transfer being the District Leader and I will be losing my current companion Elder Lacey and will be getting Elder Baer. I'm excited to stay here and work in Green Bay!

We have continued to have amazing lessons with Domingo and his family and they even offered to feed us one night! They called us that day and sadly said that we wouldnt be able to go have a lesson with them but we changed it to a day later and they still fed us! We had an amazing lesson reading 2 Nephi 31 about the doctrine of Jesus Christ. If it's been a while since youve read that chapter you should go read it because it's a pretty good one!

I have been able to continue my quest in reading through the Old Testament and am currently in the middle of 2 Kings. I love the stories of the prophets in 1 and 2 Kings. Elijah and Elisha are definitely some of my favorite prophets because they have so much confident and faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I have gotten pretty good at working the bus routes the past couple weeks so it's been pretty fun planning out when and where we are going to go places! I enjoy it. Definitely different from having a car though!

One night we were able to teach a couple points of a lesson to this guy names Jesse but we decided it would be best if we leave it as that and leave so as we were walking home I started walking through the field and it had been snowing a little bit and so i stopped and started making a snowman. It was pretty cool.

Im grateful to be a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ! Enós 1:19 "Y sucedió que yo, [Elder Ricks] anduve entre el pueblo de [Wisconsin], profetizando de cosas venideras y dando testimonio de las cosas que yo había oído y visto." I love being out here sharing the word of God with everyone here in Wisconsin! I love you all!

DO GOOD, BE GOOD

Love,

Elder T. Ricks

Hard work- Note from President Murphy

Elder Ricks:

Wow!!!!! Can I just say that you are doing in incredible job! First, you are setting the example in your area! Second, you have done miracles throughout your district. When good things are happening, it becomes contagious!! Faithful Focused Finding (#FFF!) makes a difference. Work makes a difference-- talking to people! 
Having high expectations--- having faith that there are people who are ready, and that if we work to find them and seek the Lord's help, He will direct us!! I can't tell you how proud I am of and thankful for you!

Thank you for your leadership. Keep up the wonderful job! The Lord will continue to bless you and will use you!

Please know that our love, faith, and prayers are with you.

President Murphy

Finally (a little) SNOWWWWWW- Week 47

Hey everyone! I hope your weeks have been amazing! We finally got snow here in Green Bay! 

Honestly nothing too amazing happened this week! Just that we were able to find 2 more people to start teaching and ... it snowed haha! We were walking around town at about 10 in the morning after it had snowed a lot and basically everyone already had their sidewalks and driveways shovelled or snow blowed! It was actually pretty amazing.

We just go out basically all the time and try to talk to and share the Gospel with everyone! Its lovely. I guess another cool thing is that we have been starting to use the busing system more and everyone always said that it isnt a very good busing system but I haven't really had any problems yet! It's been fun haha. 

Oh also this lady called the Hmong Elders in my District and asked them to go to their house to give it a blessing because there have been lots of activity with the unseen world there with Spirits and all! So we were on exchanges when that happened and I got to go and help this lady. So we went and shared a super amazing lesson with her about the light of Jesus Christ. She had a lot of questions and stuff like that but you could tell she needs and needed the Gospel in her life and so we taught her and then blessed the house and some other Sisters in the area were able to go later on that day and teach her the Plan of Salvation. Super cool!! They are planning on continuing teaching her and hopefully she can progress and come to church eventually. 

Thats basically it for this week. I started the Book of Mormon over and am planning on finishing it the morning of the April General Conference which I think is gonna be suuper cool! But I have been studying a lot about Lehi, Nephi, Laman and Lemuel. I love the part where Nephi starts building the ship but Laman and Lemuel come over to him and start persecuting him and telling him he cant build a ship. I love Nephi's response and the fact that he knows the power that he has because he is a man of God. 

1 Nefi 17:46-48

"Y vosotros también sabéis que por el poder de su palabra omnipotente él puede hacer que la tierra deje de ser; sí, y sabéis que por su palabra él puede hacer que los lugares escabrosos se hagan llanos, y los lugares llanos se hiendan. Oh, ¿cómo, pues, podéis ser tan duros de corazón? He aquí, mi alma se parte de angustia por causa de vosotros; y mi corazón está adolorido, porque temo que seréis desechados para siempre jamás. He aquí, estoy lleno del Espíritu de Dios, a tal extremo que mi cuerpo no tiene fuerzas. Y aconteció que cuando hube hablado estas palabras, se enojaron conmigo, y quisieron arrojarme al fondo del mar; y al acercarse para asirme, les hablé, diciendo: En el nombre del Dios Todopoderoso, os mando que no me toquéis, porque estoy lleno del poder de Dios, aun hasta consumirme la carne; y cualquiera que ponga sus manos sobre mí se marchitará como una caña seca; y será como nada ante el poder de Dios, porque Dios lo herirá."

As we strive to live the commandments of God and do all we can to become like His Son we can also have that same power that Nephi did. We probably won't have to command people to not touch us but we can be filled with the Spirit of the Lord and can change the lives of the people around us. I'm grateful for the scriptures especially the Book of Mormon. I love Jesus Christ and I'm grateful to be here in Wisconsin at this time. I love you all and hope you all have amazing weeks!

Also I hope you all enjoy the photoshoot me and my family did!!! The photographer was crazy good at some edits and made us into LEGO people!! (Sorry you werent there Shay😭) I'm grateful for my family!!!!

DO GOOD, BE GOOD

Love,

Elder T. Ricks

Happy Cumpleaños Payton❤️- Week 46

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR PAYTON, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. Thanks for always being there for me and for always helping me choose the right. You are a big reason of how I got to where I am today and I'm so lucky and glad that you are in mine and my families lives! I hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday🙈

This week was filled with tons of miracles and blessings. The Lord is always looking out for all of His children because He loves each and every one of us. I have been sharing the 'Because of Him' video a lot this week and I can truly tell and feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for all of the people that are accepting the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, and even the people who don't accept it, and I feel the love He has for all of you.

BTW PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT - I cut my own hair this week and I was pretty proud of how it turned out. 

We started teaching a family and all of their names are... Felix, Sulica, Richard, Feliz, Geanelis, and Genesis. We stopped by their house last night and they were in the middle of a birthday party but they stopped that so that we could share a message with them. They were so inviting and interactive and showed us the love that Christ has for us just as we do for them. It always feels some welcoming while we are there and I'm so grateful that we get to bring the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives so that they can have added knowledge. 

We were able to have Zone Conference this last week and those are always some of my favorite times getting together with other missionaries. We had an uplifting time there talking a lot about why the Lord teaches us principles and not necessarily gives us a list of every little exact thing that you have to do, and about the importance of diligence. Elder Rockak from Idaho Falls is currently our Assistant to the President so it was fun to receive a training from him. Also it's incredible to see how guided our leaders of the church are and how in tune with the Spirit they are.

With that being said President Nelson has invited us to prepare ourselves and our families for this next General Conference in April and that's honestly not very far away!! As I was pondering on ways that he suggested we prepare for that and things I could do personally I have pondered about the importance of the Restoration and what that means. I've been able to reflect on how the Restoration of the true Church of Jesus Christ has changed mine and my families lives. I think it would be very beneficial for you all to do the same. Reflect on your lives in how the Restoration has been a blessing to you and to find ways that YOU can prepare for this historical General Conference that we get to be apart of. Let our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ know how much you love them by studying from the Book of Mormon every day, doing Come Follow Me - which is focused on the Book of Mormon this year, read anew the accounts of the First Vision. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I have read it and know of the power that can come from reading that and living by its principles. I know it is another testament of Jesus Christ and that it is the most correct book on the Earth and that was we read it and pray about it our relationship with our Father in Heaven grows. I know the church of Jesus Christ has been restored onto the Earth today and I know that the Book of Mormon is evidence of that. Joseph Smith was a prophet. Russell M. Nelson is a prophet and He has been called of God. We can show that we sustain him and want to follow God by doing the things our prophet asks us to do and as we do so our faith and trust in Him will increase. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and I'm grateful so be His servant today sharing this beautiful message.

I love you all so much! 

DO GOOD, BE GOOD

Love, 

Elder T. Ricks 

Muchos milagros- Week 45

Hey everyone!! I hope you've all had an amazing week filled with lots of blessing and miracles. (I actually know you all have because we all have a loving Heavenly Father who blesses each and every one of us every single day!) But I hope that you are all able to recognize that and have thanks in your heart for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

This week has truly been incredible. I was able to go on 2 exchanges this week and we saw so many miracles. We worked super hard during the exchanges but we also had a lot of fun! My first exchange was with a guy named Elder Heflin who has been a District Leader in some of his last areas and he was able to help me a lot and give me some ideas to be a better leader. And the other exchange was with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Hamilton, and that was also super fun! He served in Marshfield after I did and so we were able to talk about a lot of our fun memories in that area and talk about some of the people that are there. It's so cool and interesting how different missionaries can have such different experiences in the exact same Ward or Branch!

During my first exchange Elder Heflin and I were able to work super hard in my area and find 1 new person to start teach and find probably about 10 posible potentials which is really good for Spanish work especially in Wisconsin. We also set a couple return appointments for later that week/the following week. We were super proud of the work that we were doing and we both went back to our areas wanting to continue working hard and following the Spirit of the Lord. During that exchange as well we were able to have dinner with my Branch Mission Leader, Payano, which was super fun! We had home made sushi😍😍 wow. That was amazing, I want home made sushi like at least once a week. Payano also gave us a ton of sushi to go:) what a kind soul.

On my next exchange which was just a day later we were able to go out and work super hard as well. And Elder Hamilton taught me a lot about what talking to everyone means. He would talk to literally everyone we passed. Within the first 10 seconds we started our exchange he had already got a super solid potential that I could visit later that week or the following week. Amazing!! So during this exchange the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to teach 2 families and a couple other people bringing our total of new people found for this week to 9!

I was so impressed with how the Lord was blessing our area and I was talking to Elder Hamilton on Saturday and he made a joke about us finding 14 people for the week and as we were daily planning I told my companion that we needed to find 5 more people to show him that we can do anything we put our minds to through the Lord! And so we scheduled about 2 super solid people to stop by on Sunday. We went to church, had dinner with an awesome family and then went on our way to start finding the people who will listen to us! We visited 1 of the people we planned for and went and visited another solid potential because we were pretty close(we thought... It ended up being about 2 miles away from where we were at😂) and both of them didn't answer/rescheduled. We went to Payano's house so I could use the bathroom haha and then he offered to take us home which was a huge blessing because we wouldn't have been able to see the other family we wanted to stop by. We stopped in at there house and they had their whole family there! It was so awesome! We taught all of them (6 people) and got to know them all a lot better! So this week we were able to find a total of 15 people who accepted a message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited us back to hear more! Wow. What a blessing! 

One of my favorite chapters to read in the Book of Mormon is the last chapter of 2nd Nephi. It's basically Nephi's final testimony and it's super powerful which is incredible because he says that it's not as powerful than when he was teaching it to his people! I invite you all to go and read that either for your personal study or with your families and maybe even share all of your testimonies together. I love the Book of Mormon and I know it's true and that it's the word of God. It brings us closer to Him and makes our lives better as we live its principles. I'm grateful to have the Book of Mormon and it is evidence that the true Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored onto the Earth today. I love my Savior Jesus Christ!

Also watch this - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/blog/my-2020-invitation-to-you-share-the-message-of-the-restoration-of-the-saviors-gospel?lang=eng

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. 

DO GOOD, BE GOOD

Love, 

Elder T. Ricks 

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo- Week 44

Hey all! I hope that your Christmas went extremely well! I love you all and am so grateful for all of your thoughts and prayers for me. I think of you all often and hope that you are all able to feel the love that the Lord offers us everyday.

This week has been super cool! I was able to talk to my wonderful family this week!! And it was special because I got to talk to my mom and dad and Ashlynn and Analee! And also Braeden and Shay because they were at home for Christmas. So I got to talk to all of them and I also got to talk to Carson as you all know serving in Mexico City! We were both able to video chat at the same time and it was definitely a special moment for me to be able to talk to them all. Family is such an important part of life and I am grateful for my family and for their great examples for me specifically but also for all the wonderful things they do for all the people around them in their lives.

I had been living without a desk since I have been here in Green Bay because it was a new apartment and all, but thankfully I was able to receive a desk and what a blessing that is to have more effective studies! Preach my Gospel is really right haha! I felt like I was having good studies even without a desk but I just love studying the Gospel so much! It's awesome.

We honestly just kinda go out finding all the time! So basically we just go and we knock on doors which is super fun. We were able to find a new person to teach this last week quien se llama Luís! We are excited to start teaching him. We found him by just walking through a neighborhood and he was shoveling the snow off of his grass onto his driveway...? And we offered to help and then shared a message with him of Jesus Christ! We went back while I was on exchanges with an Elder that speaks Hmong and he said if he talks to us he wants us all to be able to understand and benefit from the conversation and he didn't want anyone left out so that was interesting but I guess it was kind of him!

It has also been a blast because we finally found a couple bikes that work! So we have been able to bike to a lot of places which is nice. But one thing that we did find is that it is a little hard to tract when we have bikes because we don't want to leave our bikes somewhere because they could get stolen! So we just walked them from house to house which is funny. But it worked so it's all good. We've had some pretty nice weather which has been super nice! God is truly looking out for us. 

I have been going over some of my notes from last General Conference and a couple things stood out to me from Jorge M. Alvarado. He said something along the lines of how our advice to others will only satisfy their demands if we are living our advice ourselves. In essence, we need to learn the teachings and the ways of Christ in order to live the commandments and teachings of our Savior before we are able to share the things that we know and have an effect on other people. Being an example to the people in our lives are one of the best ways that we can be missionaries!!! So we need to seek to learn divine truth & to know the Gospel for yourself and Elder Alvarado promises that as we seek to know the things of the Lord and ACT and be examples to those around us in our lives, we will be a strong link in our families and to our friends. I know that this it the true and only church of the Lord. I'm grateful to be a missionary. I love Jesus Christ!

DO GOOD, BE GOOD

Love, 

Elder T. Ricks