Tuesday, March 25, 2014

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

Monday, March 17, 2014

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



Tuesday, March 4, 2014

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