Trial of Faith

My Dear Family,

Hola! Como están todos? Espero que se encuentran con bien! It has been an amazing week! I have been blessed with an amazing companion. I have grown to love him so much in just this first week. He is so humble and full of love and has such a strong testimony. We are best friends and love serving together. His name is Elder Rios and is from Guadalajara, Jalisco. He is so funny and is ALWAYS smiling. We are going to have so much success and fun together.

This week has been really interesting. The Lord seems to be trying to teach me faith. We have amazing investigators right now, but each one has an individual struggle. A few times in the week, I remember feeling like I wasn´t progressing and that I wasn´t having success. So I got down to the basics and started from the bottom. And it seems like right when I thought I couldn´t do anymore, the Lord blessed me with a new golden investigator or a spiritual lesson with a progressing investigator. It has been interesting to see how the Lord works in the lives of my investigators, but it is also interesting to see how he works in my life. Mom talked about how she is grateful for the opportunity to repent and be better everyday and that is how I feel as well. But part of my cleansing process has been learning to recognize how He works in my life. And it is through his tender mercies. In the Book of Mormon in the first chapter of Nephi, verse 20, Nephi promises us that everyone who is obedient to the Lord and has faith, will be showered with the "tender mercies" He has for us. I love my Savior and I am grateful for the faith I have in him. I can be sure that all I need to do to be successful as a missionary, is be obedient, work hard, and help my missionaries to do the same.

I was also thinking the other day of the prayers we offer and the answers we receive. When we want to be more patient or have more faith, we pray, "Heavenly Father... give me more patience to endure, or give me the faith I need to believe..." But when we ask for these things, the Lord doesn´t give us patience or give us faith. Rather, he organizes our lives in such a manner that we acquire experiences that teach us faith, or that teach us patience. It is the same with my investigators. Here in Mexico, EVERYONE and their chihuahua believes that it doesn´t matter what church you go to because everyone prays and worships the same God. We know that it DOES matter, because only one church is the true church. Often our investigators pray to God asking, "Tell me which is the true church," and they never recieve an answer. But when they ask a specific question and they do it with faith and a desire to know more, just like Joseph did, THEN, the heavens open and revelation flows down like rain. I love this gospel and what it has taught me. I don´t know if you all can hear or see the difference in me or not, but I feel like I have changed 100% in this last year. I feel so happy and pure and sure of who I am.

Carlos is doing great still. He wants to get baptized and has a testimony, but has a tiny problem. This last week we found out he isn´t married with his wife. I had believed that he was. We mentioned that before he can be baptized, they need to be married. They said that they would need time to think about it and we are going to check in with them tomorrow. PRAY FOR THEM! :) Tito has stopped smoking now for more than five days and the other day I talked with him by phone. He told me, "Elder Ricks... you don´t know how much praying has helped me." I love hearing that from investigators. He will be baptized this week if everything turns out good.

Thank you so much for your support and love. I received the package and LOVED it! The garments fit like a glove and the shirts as well!!!! Mom you really must know me well because the sizes couldn´t have been better! Thank you so much for the cheese cake and pudding and jello! My companion about wet his pants when he saw it all! We are going to make it tomorrow night and party! I love you all so much and can´t wait to talk to next week! Thank you so much for the photos! The house looks great and it seems like you all had a blast when Hannah was there in town. What great memories! Have an AWESOME and great summer! Be safe and always remember to read the scriptures every day! :) Love you all!


Elder James Ricks


P.S.: I am sending photos in the next email, separate! :)