July 21, 2014 - No Time and No Pictures

This is an even shorter letter than usual. He was doing something fun for his pday apparantely and he wasn't ready to share what it was!

You can email Devon at:

devon.ridd@myldsmail.net

or write him at:

Elder Devon Ridd

c/Valdebernardo n. 25, 5c

Madrid 28030

Spain

I read all of the emails and I loved them... I have zero time today but you will see why next week. I hope you have a great week! I am safe and sound and happy here - don't worry about me! 

Mom! About three weeks ago I made a personal post card out of a picture that I have of me and I got it made for your birthday and I wrote on the back of it and stuff and I was going to send it to you and I had it in my Book of Mormon while we were walking around so that I could put it in a mailbox... but it fell out!!! So, I looked and looked and looked but I couldn't find it - so I am just hoping that somebody sees that it was supposed to go to the United States and sticks it in a mailbox for me. I'm sorry about that Mom. It was a really cool card and I feel bad that you might not get it but lets hope you do! (I do hope so too!)

I really like my new area. The ward is good. There are tons and tons of members so that is cool. There are so many more members in Madrid than I am used to! We are not even in the same stake as President and Sister Jackson!

I will write more next week I promise. This p-day is going to be awesome! Thank you for sending me the package! I hope you have a great week and tell everybody I say hi!

A Letter From Devon's Mission President!

We received this email from Devon's Mission President this week:

Dear Brother and Sister Ridd,


It is a pleasure to inform you that we have assigned your son, Elder Ridd, to serve as a Zone Leader in the Madrid Pavones Zone. He will work closely with another Zone Leader. This calling carries with it many of the same duties as a District Leader; setting an example for the other missionaries through his study of the scriptures and the gospel, obedience, hard work, proselyting skills and other aspects of missionary work. Along with these duties, he will be given some additional responsibilities such as: teaching missionaries in the Zone through companion exchanges, visiting District Meetings, giving presentations in Zone Conferences and in Zone Training Meetings. He will also interview baptismal candidates, who have been taught by the District Leaders in his Zone.


The Assistants to the President and I are responsible for training the Zone Leaders in monthly councils. They will in turn train the members of their Zone. These responsibilities are in addition to his regular proselyting duties. We have confidence in your son, and know that he will grow and develop, and influence those around him as he serves in this capacity. We enjoy working with such a fine Elder in this great work.


 


Our best wishes to you,


 


President Scott T. Jackson


Spain Madrid Mission

July 14, 2014 The Spanish Nicole!

Mondays are my favorite! I love hearing from our missionary! 

You can email him at:

devon.ridd@myldsmail.net

or write him at:

Elder Devon Ridd

c/ Valdebernardo n. 25, 5c

Madrid 28030

Spain

Happy Monday Mom! This P-day has been fun for us! We played some soccer and hung out with some other missionaries.

Remember how I said that we see a lot of miracles during our exchanges? I want to share one with you that happened here: We baptized a Spanish man!! We usually baptize South Americans you know but it was really cool to see this man get baptized. His name is Carlos and he is married to a Dominican. They met each other in Panama and got married there and then came back here to Spain. She was baptized as a young girl but went inactive a long time ago. But while in Madrid she saw the temple and told us that she was a member of the church and so then it started from there! It was such a great baptismal service and it was awesome to see Elder Alvarez baptize him. It could be his last baptism on the mission so it was awesome. Elder Alvarez and I are both zone leaders - he is the oldest zone leader in the mission and I am the youngest. This week we are having our zone training meeting so I am a little nervous for that! We'll see how it goes!

Arizona is so hot! It is warm here but not like back home. I kind of miss it! I miss our ward. We really are blessed to have such an awesome organized ward! Some meetings here in Spain are just disasters... haha the church is still new here! 

Thanks to everyone for the support and everything! I love you! Have a great week! The church is true!

So, this picture is of Nicole in Spanish form! This girl remains me so much of Nicole and she acts like Nicole and everything. And to me they even look the same so I took a picture with her and now we are pretty good friends. She is 12 years old and is a good little member of the church! 

From Carlos' baptism. We are all so happy for him!

July 7, 2014 - The Temple at Night!

Our family went on our annual trip to Duck Creek. It is a great time for all of us but it is definitely one of Devon's favorite places on earth! We get to be with cousins and grandparents and ride motorcycles for hours! This was our first time to go without Devon and everyone missed him so much! He was inundated this week with emails and pictures from all of the family so his responses were pretty short! Remember! You can email him at:

devon.ridd@myldsmail.net 

or write him at: 

Elder Devon Ridd

c/ Valdebernardo n. 25, 5c

Madrid 28030

Spain

I am pretty swamped with Duck Creek emails and it is stressing me out a little bit! But I love it! Thank you so much for the email mom! I am so glad that you had such a good time at Duck Creek! I love that place! It makes me happy that you guys were able to enjoy yourselves so much there. I love my family!

I am learning so much from the other missionaries (he has a new calling as a Zone Leader) I love doing exchanges. We always see lots of miracles during exchanges. I still have yet to do a tour of the temple because we are so busy doing other things but I will do one soon! There isn't a visitor's center here - did you know there are only like 16 visitor's centers in the whole world? So we only do tours of the outside grounds. We teach about the symbolism and we explain the restoration and the need for temples.

Mom! I definitely have your crying gene! Thank you so much for all of the prayers - it really does help me a lot to know that all of the family is praying for me. What a blessing that is. I'm so glad you guys had so much fun at Duck Creek! When I get back I hop we can go riding! And you will hopefully have TTR230 by then! :)

I don't have tons of time because I had to read a ton of emails but know that everything is going well here! Thank you for all of the prayers! I pray for all of you guys as well! I love my family! The church is true! 

 Every night we have such a beautiful view from our apartment!

 We bought an ab belt thing to get us more toned! It hurts so bad but it is pretty funny!

Just the missionary life.

( I sent a package with new socks)

June 30, 2014 - the Temple!

We have an address for him now! It is:

Elder Devon Ridd

c/Valdebernardo n. 25, 5c

Madrid 28030

Spain

Yes, seeing the temple every day out my window is awesome! I love it! Our view is seriously amazing. I love the reminder that it gives me just like you said. It is a different kind of area because we give tours of the temple grounds which should be really cool! Because I live right on temple square I get to see lots of the MTC teachers and all of the temple workers and the temple presidency and stuff so it is really cool. The mission home is about 25 minutes away but it's still pretty close and everybody reunites here so I will get to see President Jackson pretty often!

Thank you for always sharing your pensamiento espiritual conmigo :) I love it. I hope you guys have a great week! I might be a little bit trunky next week when you tell me all about your trip to Duck Creek but I want to see all of the pictures and hear all of the stories so it's alright! 

I love you all!

June 23, 2014 New City, New Calling

We don't have a new address for Devon yet but you can always email him at devon.ridd@myldsmail.net

We didn't really get a letter this week from Devon - but we got some pictures and a little note telling us that he was transferred to Madrid. He is serving on Temple Square as the Zone Leader. Hopefully next week we will get some more details!!

I love this guy! I was able to do his baptismal interview, be a witness for his baptism, confirm him and give him the priesthood. True happiness comes from serving others!

A lot of the members threw me a surprise going away party and it was awesome. I was sad to leave Guadalajara - I really love the people there. 

My new companion is Elder Alvarez from Chile! I am going to learn so much from him before he goes home next transfer. I am serving as the Zone Leader here. This is our apartment! You can see the temple right outside our window! 

June 16, 2014 Another Beautiful Sunset!

I hope you don't get tired of my sunset pictures! They are just so beautiful here in Gudalajara!

Thank you for all the pictures and the emails! I'm glad that dad had a good Father's day and that you guys were able to spend time together as a family! I love my family! Thank you for letting me know what is going on with everything! Courtney is letting me in on everything too so I am well informed! :) Tell Dad I say Happy Father's day and happy birthday to you too Mom! Your birthday is coming up soon! 

So, this week was interesting here! I was sick (do NOT worry mother, sickness is part of life!) and we had some hard challenges with our investigators. We are seeing that with the blessings also come the opposition and it lets us know that we are doing our job. So we find out transfers this Saturday! So it is possible that the next time I email you guys I will be in a new area! I think some big things are going to happen this transfer but we will just have to wait and see!

We are just starting to teach a Peruvian man here named Alan! I thought that was pretty interesting! Elder Peredo and I participated in a big soccer tournament in the stake to help our ward and it was awesome. I love soccer! And today a guy from our ward is going to take us to some tennis courts to play some tennis with him so that will be fun! Everything is going well here. We have had a lot of heart breaks here in Guadalajara lately but it is all part of the mission. I am learning so much out here! I love speaking Spanish and I feel like I can fully be myself now in Spanish which is really good. The church is true!

I have been reading the April conference talks and there is so much wisdom in them! I know that if we follow the prophet and the apostles we will receive guidance and we will be protected from Satan! Families can be together forever! I have adjusted my vision out here on the mission; our goal really isn't baptism, it is to have families get sealed in the temple. That is our real goal and what a blessing that is. We are so blessed in Mesa to have two temples so close by and to be able to do saving ordinances for our ancestors there. I love the temple!

Gracias por todo mama! Tu mereces lo mejor y estoy muy agradecido por tener una madre tan buena:) Manda saludos a toda la familia y que tengais una buena semana y un buen dia hoy! Os quiero!

Love, 

Elder Ridd

June 9, 2014 - Two Baptisms!

First of all I have to say thank you for all of the emails and letters! I love getting them! I have been chatting with Courtney a little bit this morning and that has been fun!

This week has been great! Both Julio and Avy were baptized this week! They are both so awesome and are going to help the ward out so much here! They have very strong testimonies and are great examples to everyone here. It is interesting because we found Avy and started teaching her, and Christian ( a member here) started helping us with the lessons and then they started dating... so we let him baptize her! It is cool the way all of that happened.

Julio is from Peru and is a machine! We found him two and a half weeks ago and he is already so so strong in the gospel. We had another member named Ricardo from Peru baptize him. It was such a great service and the spirit was really strong. Godspower was there with Faith! I love that man! I attached a picture of him and me. I probably won't ever be able to see him get baptized because we are waiting on lots of papers and stuff from Nigeria but just to know that one day in the future he will get baptized makes me so happy.

I have come to know so many great people here in Guadalajara. It is such a blessing. It is so different here in Spain. You are assigned to a small ward or branch where the church is still really new and you serve there for 5 or 6 months and you become such a big part of everything. The members call us for everything! We run around giving blessings and helping with the church activities and helping in ward council and helping with everything and it is so great! Here the families in the branch pray for us by name in church and tell us that we are heroes to their kids and it is just something so special. Members have given me so many coats and ties as gifts just because they love the missionaries so much!

I have truly come to know that as we serve our neighbors we find true happiness. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be out here on the mission and to serve these people. This is the Lord's work and I know without a doubt that the church is true. Thank you for everything that you all do for me! The support back home means a lot! I love you all!

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Ridd

Sunset in Guadalajara

At Julio and Avy's baptism

With my main man Godspower

The street right outside our apartment - they are setting up for a race or something

June 2, 2014 - Temple Pictures!

I don't have a lot of time to write this week! But we had such a great week! We are working really hard here in Guadalajara! This week we will have a few baptisms so get ready for some pictures next Monday

! Let me just tell you about an investigator named Julio - I don't think I have told you about him yet.
We found him two weeks ago and he is getting baptized this week! He is golden!! He loves everything about the gospel and on Sunday he said a prayer in church and prayed that God would give him a job so that he could pay tithing! He is just so awesome and I know that Heavenly Father let us find him because we are being obedient and working hard!

We were able to go to the temple on Wednesday and I loved it! I love going to the temple. The APs also came to another of my district meetings this week so that was pretty nerve-wracking but it went well! Everything is going well here! The ward is so excited about all of the missionary work that is going on and it feels so great to be here right now!

I know that the church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that we have the priesthood again on the earth. I don't have lots of time to email but I love you all!! Thank you for everything Mom and Dad and everybody! I hope you all have a great week this week! Keep whipping those girls in shape!

Love, Elder Ridd

May 26, 2014 The Rain in Spain...

The missionaries in Guadalajara

So, this week the Real Madrid won the Champions League. Nobody wanted to talk to us in the streets that night and we couldn't sleep because of all of the parties and explosions! 

But you had a crazy week too! I am so proud and happy for Morgan! I miss that girl! I got her graduation announcement in the mail! She is so beautiful and I was very very happy to get the invitation! And I am very happy that Courtney is in your care and that she is on her way to getting better. She did email me all of the details - I know it is hard for her but it is what it is. She needs to be home so that she can get better, and she needs to understand that and be happy! And I miss Mu Shu.

So the weather here has been crazy. It was starting to get really hot two weeks ago and then this week it has been raining and hailing on us... ha ha these Catholics and their rain dances... ha ha. We also had zone conference this week! The APs and President and Hermana Jackson spoke to our zone. I love it. I learned so much. We have great great leaders in our mission. They stressed the importance of love and hard work. Two things very important in missionary work. We also ate Dominos pizza afterwards!

So our investigator, Godspower, and his girlfriend Faith and his sister Blessings (With Faith and a little bit of Godspower we see Blessings) :) fed us this week some crazy African food. They plopped on my plate a full fish and bull's heart and some rice and some insanely spicy sauce all over it! It was pretty awesome! Elder Peredo cannot handle spicy food at all so he was dying - plus we were speaking English because they don't speak Spanish. I was laughing pretty hard. Poor Elder Peredo I love that guy! It was a good experience for both of us!

We are seeing so many blessings here in Guadalajara because of our obedience and because of our work ethic. It's amazing. We have 7 (!) baptismal dates coming up soon so we are so excited for that! I can feel myself becoming more consecrated to the work and I know that is why Heavenly Father is helping us out so much. I am learning so much out here on my mission. What a blessing it is! Can you believe 10 months have already gone by? Ha Ha talk about what it is, what it was, and what it will be. (that QFL quote is for Dallas who will be home this week!)

Thank you as always for all of the letters and emails! I love you - have a great week!

May 19, 2014 - Blessings

Well, I am very happy that you guys had such a busy, fun, happy week. I love my family! Well, dang, I honestly don't feel like writing very much! I'm pretty much in shock that Courtney has to go home. I feel so bad for her. I know it is going to be very hard on her. Holy Crap...

Well, thank you so much for sending me all of the pictures this week! I loved every single one of them and I showed them to everyone here in the computer lab! Ha ha I love you Mom. This last week here was great! Elder Peredo and I are working hard and we are seeing the blessings. You and dad have taught me so much about faith and about how to be a good servant of the Lord. So thank you for that.

I am so glad that everything is going well back home. There are people here in Spain praying for you guys did you know that? I was very touched the other day as we visited with a family in our ward. As we finished, the mom said the closing prayer and she prayed very long and sincerely specifically asking Heavenly Father to bless you and dad and my sisters. She said please bless them and all of Elder Ridd's family for what he is doing out here in the mission. I was so touched and I often think that I really don't deserve all of the blessings that I have. Heavenly Father has been so kind to me. I have so many worldly blessings of friends and family and loved ones and this mission does not even begin to pay back for that stuff.. and yet Heavenly Father gives me and you guys additional blessings for this service. It is special to think about. I love Heavenly Father and I love you guys. Have a great week!

May 12, 2014 - the One After Mother's Day!

I love you Mom! I'm glad you had such a good Mother's Day! Don't worry, I am happy and healthy and eating right and saying my prayers and brushing my teeth and making good choices and making my bed and doing all of those things that you want me to do! So don't even ever worry about me! I loved being able to talk to you guys! I love my family so much! I thought of a million things I wanted to say after we were done - the time just went by so fast! I forgot to tell Nicole Happy Birthday!! tell her I say happy birthday and that I will send her a letter this week! Also, tell Morgan that she didn't email me like she said she would...

So, we had a baptism this last week like I told you when we skyped. I am sending a picture. It was such a great experience. It is so great to be able to see people change their lives and get closer to God. Elder Peredo and I are staying together for another transfer so we are looking forward to some more baptisms together during this transfer!

I don't have a lot of time. Choose the right! I love you! Have a great week! Thank you for always sending me such great emails - I am very very grateful for that! Tell dad I say hi! and Mu Shu! And everybody else I know too. Tell Dad that I was serious about him telling the ward that I say hi and that I love them!

May 5, 2014 - More on Godspower

You can write Devon at:

Elder Devon Ridd

c/Cuesta de Davalo n.2a, 6i

Guadalajara 19001

Spain

And you can always email him at:

devon.ridd@myldsmail.net

Mom!

You are so funny with your Spanish! :) I can't wait to talk to you guys next week! It is going to be great!

So, Godspower (his real given name) is awesome! He came to church on Sunday and sat next to me, and I was translating in to English for him and he leaned over to me and said, "hey! I want to get baptized in this church" !!!!!!! So, I played it cool and just said, "alright, that's great. We'll teach you some lessons and you can get baptized in a few weeks. Ha ha, I am very grateful for him and to Heavenly Father for letting us find him.

Ricardo is also doing great. Technically he is supposed to get baptized this Saturday, but I don't think he is going to be able to. He is still as prepared as ever but we found out that he lives with a girl, so we are going to have to figure out that situation. We have faith thought that everything will go well. We know he will get baptized, we just don't know exactly when. But yes, it is such a blessing to be able to see the Lord's hand in this work and to see miracles.

Tell Uncle Jale that he will be in my thoughts and prayers. He and Auntie Shelley are so great! It sounds like Nicole had a good time at her birthday party! I didn't recognize hardly anybody in the picture from the party (there were boys?) but I'm sure they all had fun. Tell her I say happy birthday.

I am glad to hear that Courtney is getting treatment and doing a little better. I will pray with all of you guys now for a quick recovery.

So, I got your package this week! I love the flag! It is beautiful! Seriously, it is so professional and clean looking and great. So thank you for that and for the socks and the candies. I loved it all. Now you don't have to send me another package until Christmas. Seriously.

I got a letter from Grandma Ridd! She is so nice and great. Tell her that I say thank you very very much and that I loved it. Also I got a letter from Sister Erekson - will you tell her thank you as well please?

We have had a great week here in Guadalajara! We had a zone meeting and the zone leaders asked me the night before if I could start the meeting with a talk. So, I was a little bit nervous for lack of preparation but it went really well and the zone meeting was very inspired. i was able to talk to president Jackson a few times this week. He is so great. He also came to Guadalajara to visit our branch and that Sunday we just happened to have six investigators with us so that was awesome. Things are going pretty well here. We find out transfers this Saturday! I am excited to figure out what happens. I don't know anything yet but I have a hunch that Elder Peredo is leaving and that I am going to stay here in Guadalajara... but we will see! We are going to have a crazy week this week. Talking to you guys on Sunday, Saturday we have 2 baptisms and two members of the Seventy are going to visit our zone as well! Tuesday I am going to do exchanges with the Zone Leaders and we have lots of stuff planned so it's going to be fun.

I am so excited to talk to you guys! It is going to be awesome! Thank you for everything that you do for me! I love you so much! I pray for you guys and I am very grateful for all of the prayers that you guys offer on my behalf. The church is true! Talk to you soon! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Ridd

April 28, 2014 Dancing!

Devon is doing great! He never mentions in his letters that he is the District Leader. And his district is all Native speakers! He is the only American or English speaker in his district!

You can email him at:

devon.ridd@ldsliving.net

Or write him:

Elder Devon Ridd

c/cuesta de Davalos n.2a, 6i

Guadalajara 19001

Spain

So, a few things from your letter! My companion is from Bolivia! there were a lot of South Americans that came to Spain when the economy went bad down there! So Elder Peredo want to tell you thank you for saying that if he studies and learns English he could get a good job - maybe even for the church. It has given him some good motivation and he has that as his goal now!

I can't wait to talk to you on the 11th! I don't know what time but if you want to coordinate with Courtney or whatever I will do what you want! I'm very much looking forward to it!

I can't believe Nicole will be 13!

Also, we are teaching a black man named Godspower. Just thought you should know...

I got a sweet package this week from Aunty Shelley! It was a cute little package but it had one of the best letters inside that I have ever read in my life! I felt so loved and I was laughing so hard! Aunty Shelley is so funny! I absolutely loved what she shared with me and for the little goodies! So tell her thank you so much from me for that!

Well, this week we had a little miracle here! We were inside of the Sunday School class at church on Sunday and my companion felt the need to go outside and there was a man standing at the door! His name is Ricardo and he had found the address of the church online! He is from Honduras but has lived here in Guadalajara for 18 years. His brother and cousin live in the sates and are members of the church. They have been telling him for a while about the church and explaining lots of things to him. He told us that on Sunday, God told him that it was time for him to go to church, so he came. We showed him around on Sunday and wrote down his number and plan to meet with on Tuesday. My companion was in Azuqueca and I was with a pretty new Elder here doing exchanges. So, in the lesson, Ricardo explained to us that he was ready to change his life and to follow Jesus Christ. I asked him, "if you knew that this church was the true church of Christ, would you be baptized?" and he said, "well, it's just that I already know that its the true church!" so I said, "alright, you are getting baptized the 10th of May!" Two weeks from now! He is so awesome and so prepared. We are so so grateful that Heavenly Father has prepared him so much and that we are going to be able to help him join the church! I am so grateful that God gives us these miracles in the mission to help us keep going! It's awesome!

We had a ward party where we celebrated all of the different countries in our branch! It was so great! We had tons of investigators and lots of people did dances from their countries and there was lots and lots of food. I  made a little table for the United States and bought some Burger King and some Lays chips and put them on the table haha. I also sang God Bless America in front of the whole branch! It was pretty funny - I will see if I can send a video! (we didn't get a video - but if we do - I will post it here!)

Thanks for everything! I love you! Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Ridd

Feliz Pascua! April 21, 2014

Easter was really weird here! We didn't eat with any members and they didn't do anything special in church. The whole week though is called Semana Santa and the Catholic church runs the whole city the whole week. It is freaky what they do here. It felt like war all week.I'm serious, they bang these big drums all day and dress up like the KKK and carry around statues of the Virgin Mary and a bloody Jesus and that is how they celebrate Easter!

It is so sad honestly and I just wanted everybody to be happy and to realize that Jesus is happy and that he lives! I am so grateful that I was able to study about Jesus and that I have my testimony! 

I didn't receive your package yet (yikes) but I did receive a package from the Mills! They are awesome! They sent me a little Easter package and I loved it! Sister Mills is very nice. Tell her thank you for me please mom!

I was able to make some cookies this week for some members with the recipe that you sent me and they turned out alright! I didn't have anything to measure with or to do the conversions so it was literally all with a spoon and guessing and some how they turned out alright! ha ha - I guess that was a miracle for this week!

It is raining really hard today so we are not going to do some of the things we planned - we will probably just go back to the piso and write letters. Thank you for everything that you do for me. I love you so much. Thank you for all of your words of encouragement and advice. They help me a lot! I have a family here on earth, they are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity! Families can be together forever - through Heavenly Father's plan. I always want to be with my own family and the Lord has shown me how I can!

Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Ridd

April 7, 2014 - with Pictures!

Hello mother!! Do not worry about the long email! I skimmed! :) Yes, conference was great! I only got to see 3 of the 5 sessions because of the time difference and all of them were in Spanish but I still loved it! I got that message too that we really need to stay strong and firm in our beliefs in this crazy world! I though a lot about how blessed we are as members and as a family to have the gospel in our lives.

Everything is going well here. The English class lady is named Inés and her kids are Adriann and Melania! We are working with them lots and we also have some other great investigators. We are seeing lots of miracles here in Guadalajara that come from hard work and obedience.

Can you believe I get to talk to you guys in 3 weeks? I don't know when Mother's day is in the states but it is the first Sunday in May here! Is it the same there? I am pretty excited for that!

Well, I put lots of spaces in the email this week so it looks like I wrote more (usually it is just one long paragraph) I hope you guys have a great week this week! The church is true! I felt the Spirit really strong this week. My testimony was really strengthened. I realized that every time I share the Plan of Salvation wit someone, my testimony grows. I am so grateful that we know why we are on this earth and that we know God's plan. I teared up a few times during lessons this week (thank you for the genes Mom!) when I shared my testimony about the Plan of Salvation. It is a perfect plan. The Book of Mormon is true and there are so many consejos in the book that can help us make it through the world today. I love you all!! Have a good week this week!

Love,
Elder Ridd

 Just so you can see that we eat Kebab in Spain too!

 oh, what's up Spain?! #nofilter

Guadalajara missionaries - including our new sister from Argentina - Sister Ferrari

March 31, 2014

Please feel free to write him here:

Elder Devon Ridd

c/ Cuesta de Dávalos n.2a, 6i

Guadalajara 19001

España

or email him:

devon.ridd@myldsmail.net

It is so great to get everyone's emails! Will you please thank the Johnsies and Grandma and Grandpa Ridd for sending me letters! They were great and tell them I love them so much! Mom, you know you don't have to write me such long emails. I love them but I feel bad! It must take you like half an hour to write them! Thank you for sending me an American flag - I love America!! I also got a letter from Mairi too so tell her thank you for that too please!

Well, mom, I am sorry about the Suburban! But, I was glad to hear about your spiritual experience at the Women's Meeting. What a cool experience to be able to watch that broadcast with Nicole and Aunty Alice. You are a great example to me and to a lot of people. If you were on your mission right now, you would be a sister training leader for sure. Ha ha ha and Mom, I think I inherited my crying all the time from you so thank you for that.

We are still teaching that woman and her kids from English class! The kids are great. She is kind of lonely and has her ideas a little bit mixed up about the church but her kids really have a desire to learn more and it is awesome. We still have the problem that she lives in a little pueblo but we are just excited that we can visit her.

There are lots of miracles happening here. they are little and people might think that they are coincidence but we know better. For example, last night we visited a lady and her family who we found in the street and she is less active too we found out, she wants to come back to church which is awesome, and then after the lesson we got back to Guadalajara and we had about 20 minutes left to proselyte so we went to a park next to our piso and there was a man sitting on a bench almost like he was waiting for us to show up and talk to him. So we had a lesson with him and we are going to meet with him again on Wednesday. The Lord has put people in our paths we just need to be obedient and follow the spirit. The church is true! Just figured I would throw that in there!

Thank you for everything and for all of the love and support! Have a great week this week Mom! I love you!

Love, Elder Ridd

March 24th, 2014 8 Months In!

Thanks for the email Mom! I did get the package. Thank you so much, I loved it and I love you! No more money will be necessary thank  you.. and you don't have to keep sending me packages or letters in the mail or anything don't worry. If I need something I will let you know :)! (Such a big difference between my two missionaries! Courtney is begging for more letters in the mail!)

It seems like you guys are just getting cooler since I left! (this just makes me laugh)  I'm glad you guys are enjoying yourselves! Ha ha everything is good here! You asked me about writing in my journal - actually, the truth is that I have been pretty bad about writing in a journal...bad actually. There is just no time! And if there is time I'm just too pooped to write anything! Excuses.. I know.

As usual, I don't have a lot of time today but I want to tell you about one experience that happened last week. Elder Peredo and I were walking home to eat lunch and I saw this lady walk by - she was holding a "How to Learn English" book. So of course I turned around and talked to her and got her information and told her about our English class. Then when we were finally able to meet with her it turned out that she is an inactive member with two teenage kids who aren't baptized. She lives in a pueblo just outside of Guadalajara and we have to take a bus to get there, but we took the bus and talked with her for a good while and her kids are just awesome and I just know they are going to get baptized. Definitely the hand of the Lord and a miracle! We are very grateful for her and for someone to teach! She lives like 8 or 10 kilometers away and the bus schedule is terrible at night and in that pueblo so the other day we had to run all the way in the pitch black wilderness to make it home on time! That was pretty fun!

Today is my 8 month mark! Can you believe it? I'm a third of the way done!  It seems really weird.

Everything is going so well here. Thank you all for your prayers. I hope everyone has a good week!

Love,

Elder Ridd

March 17, 2014 (a short one)

Just a reminder that he would love to hear from you!

Elder Devon Ridd

C/ Cuesta de Davalos n. 2a, 6i

Guadalajara 19001

Spain

Hi Mom!

No, I don't need any pictures to hang up in our apartment! We aren't Sister Missionaries! I'm so glad you guys had a great week this week. 

Everything is going so well here! We are finding people to teach! Thank you for being such a good example to me about being a good strong member of the church. I wish there were members here like you and dad. I wish there were members here like anyone in our ward! We sometimes feel like we are struggling more with the members than with our investigators! 

I will share more next week about some of the spiritual experiences I have been having here in Guadalajara. Keep riding that bike Mom! I laughed when you said you got pooped on and how it reminded you of your mission. I have already been pooped on by pigeons three times so I know what that is like! 

I haven't gotten anything in the mail from anybody but I am hoping to this week! Have a great week! I love you!

We did go to the zoo last week. It was lame but it was free.

March 10, 2014 with pictures!!

He would love to hear from all of you! You can email him at 

devon.ridd@myldsmail.net

or you can send him a letter at

Elder Devon Ridd

c/ cuesta de Davalos n. 2a, 6i

Guadalajara 19001

Spain

Well dang! My family is so cool! You guys are just a bunch of adventurers! (he is talking about my working out of town and Alan and the girls meeting me in Iowa so they could go to Nauvoo etc...) Thank you for sending me that stuff! Please keep giving my address to people! I definitely look forward to letters. Tell Nana that I got her package too. Tell her thank you very much and I loved it and I love her!

So, I've lost weight! I look good now! I just eat sandwiches and cereal. Dad knows what its like! It is so nice to be able to drink the tap water here - I am not used to that! It's so much more European here compared to Las Palmas. It's like you were asking about at Christmas - everybody has to buy thier daily bread here! There are panaderias every 5 feet and it smells so good!

My Spanish is getting pretty good! I know it's going a lot better but I realize now also with a native companion just how much Spanish I don't know! The youth have their own words ya know? But I know it will come with time. People here tell me I have a Canary Island accent!

I am actually chatting with Courtney right now. She is so great. She is going to be such a good missionary.  I feel so blessed to come from our family. We are going to the zoo today so I will send some pictures of that next week!

I love you!

Elder Ridd

Catching some rays on the roof while there is sun!

I drew this on a chalkboard at the church because everyone is always making fun of me for being so American! BTW I would love if you would send me a big American flag to hang in my room

To go with my Arizona flag that gets passed down from one Arizona missionary to the next. 

This is right next to our apartment

The view from our apartment

March 3, 2014

It is always so good to hear from our boy. Thank you to everyone who emails him and prays for him and supports him. We have had an amazing weekend and getting this letter with some pictures from him just makes it so much better! You can write him at devon.ridd@myldsmail.net or here:

Elder Devon Ridd

C/ Cuesta de Davalos n. 2a, 6i

Guadalajara 19001

Espana

Well Mom and family,

I don't even really know what to say. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father that you guys were able to have that amazing experience. Your email has me in tears a little bit. Just thinking about the whole experience with the dancing and the dedication session and to'ona'i just makes me so so happy. I am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I am so comforted that everything is going well back home. I pray for you guys every day and that  you can have the spirit with you. I know that Heavenly Father has answered my prayers. Thank you for the email. You know I am not going to be able to respond to the whole thing, but I processed it all don't worry.

I am just so happy right now. Thank you for telling me all about your experiences!

It is so nice here and I finally get to wear my other suits that have been in my suitcase at the mission home for so long! I am actually back down to my normal weight... ha ha no more Buhler food or getting fed all the time by the members so I am back to my healthy self. Plus, we have to walk everywhere here so that has probaly helped too. I'm about 155 lbs now, or 70ish kilos. I just barely figured out about a week ago how to tell people how tall I am because I could never find out how many centimeters I

am. ha ha ha Europe is weird.

There is some kind of cross country / desert hair race going on here in Guadalajara so I see dirt bikes all of the time and it's awesome!

Elder Peredo and I are working hard. We have been finding people to teach which is great. Two days last week it rained all day here just like you had in Arizona. We had to contact all day in the rain so of course nobody wanted to talk to us, so that was fun. It was one of those good missionary experiences. One I won't forget! I got to know Elder Peredo a little bit better at least.

We did have a few investigators come with us to church on Sunday so that was great. The branch here is pretty great. The members are super scared to work with us, but we'll fix that soon. Aaand that is about all that is going on here! Just the normal routine.

I'm so excited for Courtney to go to France! I will pray for her! She will do great. Well, I love you all. Thank you to everyone for the emails. I am sending some pictures from my last few days in Las Palmas and a couple from here in Guadalajara.

Have a great week!
Love,

Elder Ridd