Our Christmas Skype!

It was so special to see you all! I am so thankful for the family I am part of. I feel the love that each of you have for me. I was doing so good until the saying goodbyes! Ha ha I cannot believe that it was my last phone call in the mission and I think that was why it was so hard. I dont ever want this to end. But I know it must. For that reason, I have done my best to live up every single minute of time that I have. As I look back on 20 months of service to the Lord I can see blessings and trials. I can see how much I have grown and changed and learned. I am not the same. It has been sad to say goodbye to my poza riquen friends. I feel like I´ve known my converts for life and it is always hard to say goodbye. But I know I will be able to see them again.

I have been thinking alot about a sacred experience I had before the mission. This is the first time I have shared this experience in twenty months. About 2 months before I entered the MTC, I had returned to Subway and helped my boss Jimmy work a few shifts, after I had told him that I was going to quit. I worked that shift that day and I remember thinking about leaving my family for two years. I thought long and hard about the decision I had made and about the changes I had to make in my life. I tried to change a few things, but I felt weak and many times I thought I wouldn´t be able to do it. That night, I got home at about 11:00pm and like always, went straight to mom and dads room to say I was home. As I entered the room, it seemed like I had all the world on my shoulders. I remember like it was yesterday kneeling down beside mom and dads bed, and just started crying. I was realizing the significance of what I was about to do. Mom and Dad gave me one counsel. "Go up to your room and offer a prayer." They told me everything would be okay and that it was the right thing to do, to serve a mission. Before I headed up to my room, Dad offered a prayer and I felt comforted.

Until I got up to my room and on my knees, I hadn´t yet been converted to this gospel, or to my decision to serve a mission. But I got down and prayed. I offered one of the most faith-filled prayers that I had ever done up to that point, asking to know if He was really there and to know if this is what I had to do. And I will never ever forget how I felt. I felt the strongest feeling of peace and comfort and I knew without a doubt that serving a mission was the right thing to do. That prayer helped me make the changes that I lacked. I worried alot about the safety of my family while I was away, but God helped me feel and see that He would protect them. I know that God answers our prayers. I know he listens and loves us and is always there when we think we are all alone.

Leaving all behind and serving a mission, has been the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. I will never regret doing so, and it will be an eternal part of who I am. I realize more every day, the love that He has for me. I also realize more every day, the blessing it is to be a part of an active family in the church and to partake of the sweet sweet blessings that we have. I can feel his love and I know that God is so proud of his missionaries. Because we are here to do his work and be his hands.

I love you all so much and am so grateful for your words and thoughts when we had the opportunity to Skype! How cool was that! I cannot believe that in four short months, we will all be together again. But until then, I have more work to do. I am so excited to train... again! It really is such a privilege to be entrusted with a new missionary. I am excited to get to know new areas, people, converts and experiences. I am so happy to be here. I love you all! :)

Elder James Ricks