June 1, 2010 letter home

I’m sitting here in bed right now and its 10:32 pm on Tuesday night. I don’t think I’d be able to sleep tonight if I didn’t write down a few thoughts…
First, I got your package today. The hoop is awesome! It was set up and being used within five minutes of opening the box! Thank you so much for all your sweet letters and pictures. I have to admit though, it made me homesick. I miss you all so much. The time is so weird here. On one hand, it feels like I have been here for eternity. On the other it seem like I got here yesterday. I wish ya’ll could see how much I’ve grown & changed. It’s hard to let go of who I used to be. When Christ asked disciples to give up their lives and become “fishers of men,” they had to metaphorically “let go of the boat” and step on out into the water in Faith. We can apply this to missionary work. I have to just stay focused on Christ and “let go of the boat” and trust in him. It’s hard, but the blessings are so real. Every week we do what’s called a “TE” or teaching evaluation. It is a fake investigator that volunteers to come and let us teach them. This last week was our first time solely in Espanola now that we’re ½ way through. The spirit is so strong in those appointments even though they’re just for practice. As a missionary teaching a lesson, I feel like my name tag is on fire and I want the whole world to see it! This work is REAL. There are people with REAL concerns and questions that only JAMES REED RICKS can answer. I can’t even explain the motivation that comes from that thought. As members of Christ’s true church, it is our duty to live exemplary lives and be a light unto those who are surrounded by darkness. I know this is true. Other than the occasional home-sickness, I want you to know – all of my special family – that things are good here. Whenever I miss you it just motivates me to work harder. Today I had an interesting thought. We read in the scriptures that God performs his work line upon line. In other words slowly, but surely. My thought was that Satan also works line upon line. We have to do everything we can to fight him in the battle for our soul’s. I know that we will be together as a family FOREVER. I believe that with all my heart. I’ve read a lot of talks lately especially ones by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (He is my favorite apostle now) and I fell in love with two talks he gave. One is called, “None were with him” and it’s about the Savior’s lonely sacrifice for us. The other is called “Safety for the Soul” and is such a powerful talk about the Book of Mormon. If you need something to do during FHE pull up the LDS.org website and read/watch the videos for these talks. They are so powerful and give me such strength.
I have a huge, super random favor to ask. Our district is having a race to see who can get the name of a song & the cd it’s on from a video on lds.org. The video is called “My new life” and we all absolutely love the music in the background. It is not entirely necessary but maybe if you have a few extra minutes and could track down that song/cd and mail it that would be so cool!
I can’t believe school is almost out. It seems like everyone’s first day at school was just yesterday. I’m so proud of how everyone has done this past year! Everyone has done great things and worded hard – so now go play hard!!! But be safe! Always remember to be safe! I can’t wait to see you all. It feels like it’s been forever. It probably does for you to. I’ll go get the photos developed as soon as I get the sd card. There is a kiosk here like at Costco and you put your card in and print the photos and pick them up the next day. They have it all figured out here. It’s so organized and efficient. Well I better say goodbye for now. I’lll mail this out on Wednesday so you’ll of course hear from me through email before you get this.

I love you all so much – Dad, Mom, Hannah, Michael, Chandler, Claire & Grace. Never forget that I love you! I pray for you every day!
Much love!
Elder James Ricks