First Letter of the New Year!

My Dear Family,

WOW! Another week gone by! This week was amazing! We had so much success! We found new people to be baptized, taught awesome lessons, completed our goals, and brought 8 investigators to church on Sunday, and we baptized! Getting investigators to the church is always the hardest part. For a person to be baptized, they have to assist on Sundays, two times. In special occasions we can get permission to baptize with only one time but two is recommended. We can put 1000 dates to be baptized in the week, and find a whole bunch of new people to teach, but if they don´t come to church that Sunday, their progress is delayed. Right now we have the "tank" super full of dates to be baptized until the 22nd of January. The goal now, is to keep the tank full and keep baptizing every week! This week we did everything we could to bring them to church. One of the investigators who will be baptized on the 8th, we had to go to his house and wake him up! But he came!

Our baptism this week was amazing! We started off the year in the font and the goal is to baptize every week! His name is Samuel Franco Ramirez, and he is the boyfriend of a member in the ward. He has been listening to missionaries for 7 months now and one day we talked to him and invited him to pray. Nothing. He said that he prayed and didn´t feel anything. We decided it wasn´t him time and we continued working with other investigators we had. Then the Lord blessed with a miracle. One day we went to the member’s house and Samuel was there. He told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon with his girlfriend and had decided to try and pray again. This time, he received his answer. The next day when we came back to follow up, he told us that he had received the answer he was looking for and had the desire to be baptized. Several days later, preparing the program for his baptism, we asked him who he would like to baptize him. He asked me if I would do it! I was so surprised and honored that he wanted me to perform the ordinance! After the baptism, I thought a lot about why we baptize. Why our Heavenly Father asks us to be baptized. Something as simple as being submerged in the water, with the correct authority, is the difference between eternal life, and it’s opposite. The doctrine of baptism is so simple. Jesus Christ was baptized, and if he, being the Savior of the World, not having a single sin, needed to be baptized, how important it would be for us, to be baptized. Heavenly Father asks us to be baptized because he wants us to return to live with him. Because of the Fall of Adam, there is something that impedes us from doing this. Sin. We know from the scriptures that no unclean thing can live in the presence of God, and it is for this that our loving Father in Heaven, instituted baptism. To cleanse us from sin and allow us to return and live with him one day. I know like the scriptures say, that there is only one Lord, one Faith, and one baptism. How grateful I am to belong to the only true church on the face of the earth. The only church that has the authority I need to return and live with my family forever and all time, with my Father in Heaven. We are so blessed to belong to this church. I am honored to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I love helping people enter the waters of baptism and obtain the same blessings we have.

It will be sad to lose Elder D in a few weeks, but Elder Harmon and I are ready to rip it up here in Catemaco! President told me today in his email to me that I will be here in Catemaco for a while! I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me this New Year! I am going to make 2011 the best year yet! New experiences, companions, food, baptisms, and rashes! I got a bad one two days ago! :)

Well family... I hope all is well and everyone is happy and pumped to start off a new year! We are the Ricks and we´re tough as bricks. We are an example of what a family should be like! Remember that there are always people watching us and our examples! I love you all so much! Thank you for all you do and your prayers and support! Tell the ward thank you so much for the awesome package! It was FILLED with awesome things! Like Jell-O! How cool! Thanks again and I love you all!!

Elder James Ricks