TACOS!!!! TACOS TACOS!!!! TAQUITOS- Week 10

Well, another week has gone by. Another Taco in my belly. Every time we eat anything in here in Mexico we eat rice and tortillas. So I am really starting to like those things. We go, soup, then rice, then the main meal, and tortillas with EVERYTHING! It really is great. They just have like stores on the corners of the streets with these tortillas that you can buy. They make them fresh and people buy them, then re-heat them the next day and sell food in the street. Tastes good either way! haha.

We are teaching a lot of people! There was someone this week who just straight up said, I don't like the way that you guys talk about God. Refering to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and then just said, and I don't want to take lessons with you guys anymore. So that was really strange and crazy. But we are finding different people every single day. We are starting to have more activities with the ward, so that is a huge success. 

Crazy story of the week, my companion and I finally saw a dead dog. So smelly and really cringy. But I got a picture, so that will always be in my memories. 

We were just walking on the side of the road and about 3 feet away from the curb was a cross. Like one you would have for someone that died. Just kinda in the middle of the road, so I was kind of like, what if someone turns and just like runs right over it. Then I noticed that the cement in the street had been dug up right next to the cement. And it looked like they put someones casket in the middle of the road right there! They dug it up and put the dirt and cement parts jsut ove the casket. So strange! I don't really understand it!!! But that kinda creeped me out. 

Spiritual thought, I love reading from the Book of Mormon. Something that I have learned from reading this week is that no matter where we are in life, good circumstances or bad circumstances, we can ALWAYS turn to our Savior Jesus Christ. And we are kind of expected to! So just always pray to Heavenly Father and ask for help and give gratitude in everything. 

Thanks for all that you guys do for me. Keep emailing me!!! I love hearing about your lives! 

love, 

Elder Ricks

Doubt Not, Fear Not

Sorry for no pictures this week, I will get some next week!

More Coke in Mexico- Week 9

Well everyone, another week down, another week closer to God. I just want to say, I love reading from the Book of Mormon. I love learning more about Jesus Christ and all that He has done for me. This Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is centered on Him and all that He did for every single person that has ever lived and ever will live. I am grateful that I get to share such a beautiful message to these people here. 

Life is kind of crazy around here! We wake up early, go to bed late, and walk all day long. I am pretty exhausted by the end of the day so I sleep like a baby every single night. I haven't had a bad night here yet! (I'm knocking on wood hopping that I don't jinx myself.) But we are always talking to people and trying to get into their houses. 

Anyways! We live on a hill her in Mexico, But that isn't a surprise because basically all of Mexico is a hill. At least where I am at. I was looking at some of my friends emails and the pictures and I think that we are looking at the same volcano just on the exact opposite sides! That is crazy! I can see 2 different volcanos from where I live. 1 is inactive and the other shoots ashes in the air like 3 or 4 times a week. So that is kind of a crazy thing to see. 

Soo about that Coke. They seriously have coke shops at like every corner. They love themselves some coke. I think that coke makes more money here in Mexico than in the United States. I drink a fair amount but I am trying not to drink much because I want to like it when I go back home. 

We are working so hard and teaching so many different families. We always struggle to get them all to church but they all have wonderful spirits and I love being in their homes. They don't have much but they share all that they can. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is such a light in my life and I look forward every day to learn and become more like Jesus Christ. Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts. I love you all and love love love hearing from you every week!!! Email me! 

Elder Ricks

Doubt Not, Fear Not

Zone Conference:

We were just planning and this kid wanted to take a picture, So I said.. Lets go for it! 

Today we Played some basketball and soccer! 

Some friends from the CCM!! So lit!

DOGGGGS- Week 8

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllll, I am having such a great time here in Mexico City! You all probably think I am crazy butttttt trust me. Life is going sooo good and I love teaching the people here in Mexico. They are for the most part all Catholic but sometimes we run into people that have heard of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. What a blessing it is for me to know so much truth and to be able to share it with so many people. We wake up and workout every day so someday imma come home and look real real fat. The reason I say this is because the only thing we have to do to workout is......................... Push ups... haha! so that is awesome but I gotta start getting some abb workout in there sometime cause man, they feed us like crazy! We eat like 5 course meals. Not really but normally 3 course meals and we don't eat until 2:30 most days. Sometimes later so that is kind of a change for me. 

But on the real, there are so many dogs here in Mexico. It was really funny but kind of innapropriate, but my companion and I saw a couple dogs trying to make other dogs and I couldn't stop laughing because I couldn't figure out where they learned how to do that. But on a more sad note, a couple of dogs scared the crap out of me and was acting all big and bad and started to run at me and my companion so I was like oohhhhhh no. And I kicked it right under its jaw. I felt so bad after but that dog won't be messing with missionaries ever again.. 

Anyways, we have such busy days with so many different people and it keeps us really tired. So we go to bed right on time every single night. I love serving my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I am so excited that I get to share such a perfect message to every single person. I love you guys and really hope that you are all doing amazing. Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts. I am so grateful for all that you all do for me. Anddddd ohhhh shout out, it's my dads birthday today! Anddddddddddd My brothers on Sunday this week! I love my family and am so glad that they are mine. 

Everyone, don't forget to pray to your Heavenly Father, He really just wants us to talk with him. As we take time to talk with Him each day we will find ourselves to be more happy and aware of what is going on around us. Thanks for all you guys do. 

Love, 

Elder Ricks

Doubt not fear not

First Week!!!...........Check- Week 7

Welllllllllll, Everyone! This week has been pretty sweet! It was my first week out in the mission field and dang is it so much different than the CCM. Like, I get to talk to real people! It has been so awesome eating so many of these different Mexican foods and holy moly! I don't put any spice or anything extra on my food and my tounge just about falls off. I don't really know how people eat so many spicy things. But I hope I get used to it soon because the members have been very kind to me but I don't think they will be as kind in the upcoming weeks. They wanna get me right into the culture and food and stuff. Every single night my companion and I (Elder Belnap) go to a recently baptized dudes store that he puts up and sells tamales. He gives them to us missionaries for free so that is for sure a bonus. He is so amazing and I love being around him. We have been able to really talk to a lot of different people this week. We have a lot of new interested people and I am really excited to teach them. We met this family this week that was from the United States and that was awesome because they all spoke English! WOWOWOWOW How I love to speak English. Haha! But they are very kind and we have been able to teach them about the Plan of Salvation and that was really cool. This family moved to Mexico because the father got deported so that is really sad but they are trying really hard to make it work here in Mexico. The people here are very friendly but they just kinda don't want to learn about anything different than what they already know. They say, I believe in Jesus Christ and through him I can return and live with our Father in Heaven, so we ask them if they would like to learn more about this message and they say, no. I am good. I'm like WHATTTTT why not??? But I don't know how to say that in spanish so I just keep my mouth shut and say, okay, buenas tardes and walk away. After I shake their hands of course. Haha. But we had a lot of people come to church this week and that was so cool to see them all there for that. We had the craziest rain storm this week! 1 second it was completely dry and 5 minutes later it was seriously like a flash flood. Crazyyyy! so my companion and I waited underneath a tarp of one of the members. So funny! We are doing good here and I look forward to hear from all of you guys! Don't forget that when you are going through hard times or anything really just pray to Heavenly Father and I know that He will help you through your problems or challenges. Have an amazing week and thank you all for your prayers and thought. I love you all!!

Elder Ricks

Doubt Not Fear Not

Here are a couple of pictures too because the last couple of weeks I have really failed in this area... Hope you all like them. The middle picture is our house, the one with the door open. Pretty wicked! 

Arrival of Elder Ricks- Week 6

Elder Ricks has arrived to the Mexico City Southeast Mission!!!

Elder Brandi,

Executive Secretary