Last week in Catemaco

It has been a great week! So much has happened and it has been so sad to say goodbye all week long to life-long friends I have made here in Catemaco! Elder Molina and I worked hard and received more blessings! We finished the week with two confirmations of a husband and wife that Elder Molina and I found. They are amazing people and going to the temple in one year! I am going to miss Catemaco so much. I was talking with President Hansen about how grateful I am for having sent me here to Catemaco. He thanked me for being a missionary that he could trust to send to what he considers to be, the hardest area in his mission. He told me, "Even for being the hardest area in the mission, that didn´t stop you from creating a 11 week long baptizing chain...!" I have thought ALOT this week about who I was when I got here almost six months ago and who I am now, getting ready to leave. Here I learned how to be a missionary. I learned here that to recieve God´s chosen children, I have to be a chosen missionary. I learned that exact obedience is key and selective obedience, isn´t obedience at all. I thank my God for having sent me here. I want each and every one of you to come here and see what it is like... To smell the air, see a dance or show in the park, and take a tour on a double decker bus! I know almost every taxi driver here, the people who own the bread shop on the corner, all the members of the church, the only guy here who sells 6 person hammocks, where the governer of Catemaco lives, all the bus routes and times, and when the grocery store has specials on sale. I love this city so much and can only dream of visiting this place with my family one day. I can see us all staying in the Hotel del Angel (the owner is an inactive member and friend of mine) and then all climbing in a tiny little boat to go out and visit Isla de los Changos (Monkey Island!). I love Catemaco and am so proud to have been able to serve here.

I found out yesterday where my new area will be, and who my new companion is! We´ll start with the not so good news first! :) My new area is the hottest area in the mission. The temperatures daily are 115-120 degrees. My area is called Tuxtepec and it is actually outside of the state of Veracruz! It is just inside the border of the state of Oaxaca! The zone where I will serve is called Tierra Blanca, which means "White Earth" and its called this for the extreme temperatures! Mom.. don´t you worry! I love the heat and am super super excited to sweat like crazy and drop a ton of weight! It is an amazing area and FULL of people waiting to be baptized! My new companion is named Elder Canseco and is an ex-assistant to the president! I am SUPER excited to be his companion and learn so much from a missionary who has been an AP. I know that no area will be just like Catemaco, but I know that the Lord needs me somewhere else. I can honestly say, that I have learned what I had to learn and done what I had to do, here in Catemaco. I was blessed with 21 baptisms here in just 5 months! I can pridefully say that I did everything I could to serve the Lord and give all I had. I am excited to explore and get to know a new area and new people and make new friends.

I totally forgot to tell you! I got the package earlier than I expected! We had a special conference with President Hansen this Saturday and he brought down the package! The shoes are.... AMAZING! They fit like a glove! Whoever sowed those shoes together took my exact size and made that shoe exactly for my foot! I put them on and walked around and felt like I could walk all day long! THANK YOU SO MUCH for the cheesecake! I am so excited to make it with my new companion! I loved the beef jerkey and gum as well! Thank you so much for my scriptures as well! I took some time to flip through the pages and see all the markings I had made in seminary. It feels like that was so long ago, but at the same time, it feels like yesterday. I am so filled with joy to look back at the progress I have made since then and see how far I have come. I love my life. I love my family and I love this work. I love Catemaco and I love my Savior. Here in Mexico, Easter is a little different. It is acutally one of the most sin-filled weeks that there is here in Mexico. The week before Semana Santa (Holy Week) starts, EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG goes to the Catholic church and everyone repents for the sins that they will commit in the week that comes. It was cool to see everyone walking around with ash on their foreheads for Ash Wednesday and then everyone carrying huge palm leaves around on the Sunday of Palms. Weird and false catholic traditions, yes... but memories I will always have! I send this email extrememly grateful for having been able to serve here and extremely excited to get to know another area and more people! May you all know that I love you and I wish to do everything I can to make you all proud! Thank you so much for your letters, prayers, thoughts, support, laughs, and example. We are the Ricks, and we´re tough as bricks!

-Elder James Ricks

These pictures are a little weird! One is of a HUGE spider that we found in our house.. biggest spider (that wasn´t a triantula) that I have ever seen. The other is a photo from one of the food appointments we had. She bought me Coyame, a soft drink that I absolutely LOVE that is made only here in Catemaco! And the last one is a photo of a car that I found that had a license plate from Utah on one end of the bumper and one from here in Catemaco, Veracruz on the other end! Such a small world and in one piece of junk car, my life before the mission, and my current life IN the mission, were connected! How cool is that!!?!?!? I love you all so much! Enjoy skinny Elder Ricks!!!!!!!!

Elder James Ricks

Mom... I hope you know that there is a sweaty and skinny son of yours in Mexico who loves you so much. I saw the moon Saturday night. Last night the moon was so so so big and bright red! I thought of you! Love you Mom!