My First Baptism!

Mi Querida Familia,

Holy smokes! I can't believe it’s already Monday again! It feels like I was emailing you yesterday! This last week has been by far my most successful yet. We worked our tails off this last week and broke all of the goals for this area for the last three years. We had 19 members with a member from the branch with us and the record for three years has been 11. It was really hard and required that we didn't waste a single second but it was so rewarding Sunday night, at the end of the week to crawl into bed, entirely exhausted, and know that I did my best that week. And to make a good week the best ever....... I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM! I cannot put into words how amazing it felt. I was overcome with the spirit. The missionaries (there were five of us) sang the musical number and it was so so so spiritual. We sang two songs: "When I'm baptized," and "He sent his Son." It was so amazing. Afterwards she told me that she felt like she was born again, clean, pure and happy as she has ever been. I'm sending pictures in the mail so they should be there by the end of this week because I forgot to bring my camera with me to the library today. She has increased my testimony about faith. She has had to exhort extreme amounts of faith to stand up against the situations she is faced with. I encountered an interesting set of emotions when she told us she wanted to be baptized. Up until that point we were her source of strength and the ones who knew what was best for her. But when she accepted to be baptized and knew she needed to do it, it was like God took her problems and concerns off my mind and seemed to say, "Don't worry about her anymore James. You've done your part... She's in my hands now. Thank you for bringing her back." It was so surreal to step out of the situation and realize who controls this work. I felt like I knew she had been truly truly converted and that she had made it. On Sunday, when we confirmed her, she received keys to the door of eternal life and exaltation. The gospel truly is the best gift a man can give. It seems like my hardest weeks, (the week before this past week) are followed by an amazing week! It has been hard to get used to the up-and-down rollercoaster of emotions but I know that its this emotionally flexibility where lessons are learned. If nothing else, whenever I'm having a bad week, I can almost assume that there will be good times ahead, and that gives me motivation to work hard. This coming week will bring many challenges and change. Transfer meetings are on Wednesday and my trainer, Elder Lopez is going home. This will leave me, (a visa-waiter) and Elder Pence who has been about 3 weeks less than me, alone in our area, both trying to learn Spanish! But I'm so so so so excited to be challenged! My Spanish will soar because it will have to. I look forward to this next week with promise and excitement. We have an investigator on date to be baptized on September 11th, which will be the next one I have if I'm still here. As far as the visa goes, I honestly don’t think about it too much anymore. Every once in a while when a plane will fly over head I'll think, "I kinda wish I was on that right now... “Then I remember that I'm on the Lord's errand and I'll faithfully work wherever he needs me. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support. I feel them every single day as I wake up for another day of the best two years of my life. I miss you all like crazy but wouldn't rather be anywhere else. Know that I pray for each of you every day! I love you all so much and can't wait to talk to you on the phone when I leave for Veracruz!

Love always,

Elder James R. Ricks