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

He's In Guadlajara!.... Spain! Not Mexico

Two Pdays ago Devon emailed us to tell us that he has a new address and that was it! We were so excited to get some details in this week's letter! You can always email him at 

devon.ridd@myldsmail.net

His new address is:

Cuesta de Davalos n.2a

6i Guadalajara 19002

Espana

Ok Mom! 

So... I like Guadalajara! We had a pretty successful week this last week. We are opening the area for the first time so we are literally starting from nothing. We don't have pamphlets or an area book or anything. We had to get a new piso (apartment) with no food or toilet paper or desks or anything. (love his priority order there!) So we have spent this last week filling it up with stuff we need. I am with Elder Peredo who was born in Bolivia but has lived in Barcelona his whole life. He speaks a little English but it is nice having to speak in Spanish all day. 

We are in a Branch here and there are about 60 active members so that's not bad! We got to know all of the members on Sunday and it was nice. There are also two sister missionaries that came here too. They are great. I am the only American out of all of us! Everyone else is native so that is pretty cool. 

I really like the area. It kind of reminds me of Utah sometimes because of the type of trees and the apartments and the cold, but it is not nearly as big. It is really a nice change from Las Palmas though because Las Palmas was all about the city life and parties and crazy people. Here, the streets are big and there are fields and dirt bike stores and it's a lot more quiet. We are also only an hour train ride from Madrid so last Wednesday  we were able to go to the temple! I love the temple!

Today is my 7 month mark! I'm almost 1/3 of the way through my mission - that is so crazy! Oh, there is a kid in my zone now who is from Utah. He is Samoan and his last name Schwenke! So I talked to him on Wednesday and he said that Oliver is his dad's cousin or something so that is pretty cool! Everybody here in Spain thinks I look like Justin Timberlake so that's pretty nice. It reminds me of Auntie Fina!

Everything is going so well here! I want to send you some pictures but I can't today because I don't have my camera cord with me. I will send pictures next week I promise. To answer some of your questions: I didn't get to see Danny's friend get baptized. I left about 4 people in Las Palmas who are going to get baptized here real soon. The cool thing is that Brad Beuden went right in and took my place there in Las Palmas - he has my companion, my piso and my investigators - that is how the mission goes! 

I'm excited for Guadalajara though. I know there are people here who are prepared and we just have to find them! Right now we are just doing lots and lots and lots of street contacting. It's super exciting. I'm so glad that everything is going so well at home. Enjoy all of the celebration with the Gilbert Temple! Tell the Coles and all of the to'ona'i families that I send my love, as well as the Fosters! I haven't had time to write everyone but they are in my heart! Thanks for all of the support from everybody. I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Ridd

February 10, 2014

Hi Mommy!

Thank you so much for the email - I love you! I am sending lots of pictures for you this week! I love soaking in everything that you write to me - you are the best. That stinks that Dad and Nicole both got sick! Hopefully you and Morgan don't get it!

It is really cool that Marquiis comes over. He is awesome. He always emails me and he is definitely going to get baptized in the future! (Marquiis - are you reading this? It is going to happen - even Devon thinks so!)

So, this week we had interviews with President Jackson! He flew down to the islands to interview us so that was pretty cool! He is awesome! I am pretty positive that I am leaving. He didn't say anything but it kind of felt like it was just implied that I am leaving so we will see!

Thank you for always sharing your spiritual messages with me mom. You want to hear something awesome? I got us some sweet hook ups with the head pro at the golf course down in Maspalomas. Maspalomas is super nice and is where all of the tourists go when they come to the Islands. So, he said that we could go down there anytime and play for free. So today Elder Buhler, Elder Nielson and I are going to go hit some balls there! The pro is going to let me use his clubs and I'm pretty excited to go wail some drives - pictures to come!

I am still waiting on my residency card here because I had to get another one (I guess because of the lost wallet issue) so that could play a role in transfers and I might be stuck here for a little bit longer - we all just have to wait and see! 

I love you mom! I am so happy that you are happy with your new job and it is working out for you! You and dad are so great and such good examples to me. I am always praying for you guys. I'm so glad that Courtney is doing so well too. Thank you for always sending me pictures too - it's one of my favorite things about P Day!

The church is true! Obedience brings blessings! Have a great week!

Love, 

Your Hijo Unigenito

February 3, 2014

I am sorry that I haven't been very good about sharing Devon's letters. He doesn't write a lot. He writes every week but they don't always have a lot of information. Just that he is doing great, he loves it, not to worry - he doesn't need anything etc... However, this week when I sent him a copy of Courtney's first letter he apologized for not putting much effort in to his emails and said he is going to do better. Sometimes the positive pressure of having a twin is great! Here is this week's letter!

Hi Mom!

Thank you for that great email. I think it is awesome that you have had the opportunity to work at the temple open house. What a blessing that must me!

Courtney sounds like she is doing great at the MTC. I have been praying for her a lot and I am just so happy that she is loving it there. Her email that she sent was pretty sweet. Thank you for always letting me know what is going on! I soaked it all in and it is all in my brain! I am glad that everything is going so well at home. It is super weird that you took the leaf out of the table! Holy smokes you guys are living a different life now with only two kids at home!

This week in the mail, I got a wallet from the Johnsies (his wallet was stolen or lost on a bus a while back - we don't know the details as per usual!) It was a hard day of work and we were coming back to our flat at almost 10:00 at night and then I saw a little package sticking out of the mailbox and it was a new wallet that the Johnsies sent me for my birthday. It made me so happy. It was so simple but I just felt so grateful for them and how awesome they are.

This transfer has been hard! (they went from four Elders in their apartment/area to just two) The people are so stubborn here. Our patience is always being tried. We were able to schedule three baptismal dates this week though! So, hopefully right at the end of this transfer we will get a baptism. We don't have as many lessons as Elder Doane in the Philippines - goodness gracious! But we are happy with the success that we het here. The transfer is in two weeks and I'm pretty sure I will be leaving the islands. I have been in this same area on the same island for five months now so I am pretty positive I will be going back to the peninsula soon. So, if you want to send me anything, send it to the mission home address and I will let you know what my new address is when I get it.

We had such a great week! One of our best investigators who is hopefully getting baptized in two weeks isj a friend of Danny, our recent convert. Danny invited him to church a few weeks ago and he is now ready to get baptized! Recent converts always have such a great spirit with them and the excitement of being a new member so we are super grateful for Danny and his example to all of the other members. We also brought an inactive family back to church on Sunday. They hadn't been to church in 25 years! The Bishop was very impressed haha! He gave us the challenge at the beginning of the transfer kind of as a joke because they are pretty stubborn to say the least. But Heavenly Father helped us to bring them to church. I see so many little miracles while I am out here serving the Lord - I love being able to see Heavenly Father's hand helping us and helping the people of Las Palmas almost every day! The church is true!

Thank you for all of the prayers that you offer that help me to be the best missionary that can be out here!

Love,
Elder Ridd


p.s. This is what I call a "fatty burger" - its a burger between two grilled cheese sandwiches. (no wonder he tells us he is gaining weight!)