December 13, 2010

My Family,

Wow! Christmas time is here! I cannot believe how fast time has gone by! So much has happened and there is so much I could tell you but not enough time to say it all. I bought a new amazing camera today and I love it! It is a Canon and is amazing! Glad to here that everything is good and happy at home! Sounds like a lot of changes in the ward back home! About the phone call: I will email on the 16th of December with the information (the phone number you will need to call).

This week has been hard. Monday night this last week, the branch presidents daughter called us screaming and crying begging us to come to her house and give a blessing. Knowing of the evil there is here in Catemaco and the satanic things that happen, I was scared. Elder D looked at me and told me to prepare myself. I felt like Joseph Smith felt when he began to pray in the grove. I felt like I couldn´t talk. Elder D and I went to our house to drop off the backpacks and by this time it was 10:00pm. We knelt down and said a prayer before we left to the house. As we got up from the prayer, I began to sing Be still My Soul in my head. I will never be able to explain how I felt when I began to sing that song. I felt a peace that I can´t describe. I knew that everything would be alright and that I have the power of God. We arrived at the house and there were 10 or so people in the house and all the members of the family crying. They informed us that the mom fainted and when she woke up she started saying things. Bad things. Things that mothers don´t say. I couldn´t help but think that she had something evil inside her. She isn´t the first I have seen with evil spirits. We entered her room where she was laying because she saw we had entered the house. She pointed at us and told her family she wanted to see the missionaries. When we entered her room, she calmed down and stopped shaking, and then she fell asleep. Now.. from this I learned that there is no need to be scared of anything evil like this that happened when we are doing the right things in our lives. The other thing I learned is that the power of the Priesthood is real. The Mother we later found out suffered a severe nervous system attack. She is doing much better and nothing to serious happened. I don´t tell you this story to scare you. The work I am in is real. I am fighting face to face with Satan. But the power I hold, and especially as a representative of Jesus Christ, is real and there is no reason to fear. I will always be protected here in the service of the Lord. I am thankful for prayer and for the scriptures. I am thankful for the hymns of the church. I learned there is power in them.

We had a baptism that fell through the 4th and we rescheduled it for the 11th, but it also fell through. The mother talked with her husband who is working in the United States and the husband denied permission to his wife and son to be baptized. It was so hard. They were golden. They didn´t have any problem that kept them from receiving the blessings of baptism. When we found out that they weren´t going to be baptized it was really hard. I felt like it was something I did wrong. I wanted to see that family in white more than anything and it was hard to except. But we just remounted and got back to work. Then came a blessing. A man named Antonio came to church with a member two weeks ago and loves the church. He is 29 and is also golden. He will be baptized the 18th! This Tuesday President called us and gave us a Christmas present! He told us that 6 North American missionaries who have been waiting for their visa, will arrive this Wednesday and he wants Elder Dominguez and I to be his trainers! We are really excited to have a "son" :)

I haven’t received the Christmas package yet but its because the area where I am serving is 3 1/2 hours away from the Offices. This Thursday, Elder D and I have to go to the Offices to pick up the new missionary so I will receive the package then! I am super excited!

Today, we changed houses and oh my gosh, we are living in a mansion! It has a boiler for hot water and a complete bathroom but get this.... THERE IS A MIRROR! Now we can see ourselves when we are doing our hair, shaving, and tying ties! We are really happy! I will take tons of photos (with my new Camera!) and send them! About my new camera, there is a date stamp feature which the old camera didn´t have! I turned on the feature so all the photos have dates! :) Your welcome Mom!

I love you all so much! Time to go for this week but I will talk to you soon! I believe the day will be either the 24th or the 25th in the afternoon. Like I said, we still aren´t sure and on the 16th, I will send an email. It would be awesome if on this day, you are watching our for this email so you can send me a quick reply confirming that you received the information. We only have 15 minutes to email on the 16th!" I love you all so much and can´t wait to talk to you! Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Elder James Ricks