Letter from 10/21

We got a pretty short email this week. I'm including a little of what he sent to Courtney too. He sent her some pictures but not us! So I am thinking that we, his parents, are third on his email priority list. Actually, we told him to get out and see more of the Canary Islands! He mentioned last week that after they email, do their laundry and grocery shopping that they aren't left to do much sight-seeing or recreation so we told him to just give us the basics and get out and enjoy his day off!

Bonjour!

Wow, that was a long email mom! I appreciate everyone's letters so much! I love knowing what is going on. Thank you for all of the support. The island is great! The weather is great and the work is going along nicely!

We didn't have our baptism this week. Loida is still having some problems with cigarettes so we moved it back a little bit, no pasa nada. (I have no idea what that means) She is still way strong and will get baptized soon! We found some great great great people this week so November is going to be a great month!

The work is going great here. We called about 100 million people these last couple days from ancient ancient records and we have some new investigators now! We taught a 75 year old lady twice this week and she came to church and wants to get baptized! She knows it is true and is an amazing example! Another reason why we should talk to everybody! I will keep you updated on her. Her name is Olga! We should have some baptisms next month and I am so excited!

I am excited for Courtney going to the temple! And tell Steph congratulations on the Salt Lake call! Way cool! She is going to tear it up! Tell everybody I say hi when you are all together this weekend for homecoming. I miss all of the Aunties and Uncles!

I love you all!

Love, Elder Ridd

Letter received 10/14/13 (Columbus Day!)

Dear Family!

Thanks for the Columbus Day greetings! Yes, I did know that Christopher Columbus stopped in the Canary Islands but I didn't even realize today was Columbus Day! Everybody here loves Christopher Columbus but they say his name so different that half of the time I don't even realize that they are talking about him! We live right next to the church that he prayed in before he left on his journey to the Americas so that is pretty sweet!

I got the Halloween package that you sent! It was like Christmas! Thank you so much for everything that was in there! The pictures were so awesome! Thank you so much! I already have a Spanish hymn book that we bought before I left but thank you for the new one. It will be a great gift to an investigator that gets baptized so thank you. Everything in there was perfect thank you so much.

Courtney- thanks for sending the picture with the Erekson girls! You look great! Sis. Erekson writes me a letter each month which is so super nice of her.

I love being on the island - the weather is the same everyday. (He sent his wishes to his friends Justin Wright and Nathan Aller who got their Eagle Scout awards - he also said that he can't wait to get home and speak some Spanish on the golf course with Justin's Grandpa Barron. )

Wow, so it was kind of a crazy week. We can really see that Satan tries to work on our investigators who have baptismal dates. It seems like a lot of bad things were happening at the beginning of the week and we couldn't meet with them. But, I know that thanks to your prayers and our prayers, everything seemed to work out by the end of the week. Denis, our Croatian friend, is moving to Tenerife this week. So we prepared him nicely for the Elders over there to baptize him! We know all of the elders them and we are happy to have them do it.The work is great. Thank you so much for your prayers! Loida is still scheduled to be baptized this Sunday so we are excited for that.

You are all amazing. Thank you for your support and prayers. I don't know if Nana reads this, but tell her thank you for writing me a letter a couple of weeks ago! I haven't had time to write her back but I am going to do that today. Thank you to everyone who emailed me this week! I hope everyone is doing well. We had our transfers and Elder Day and I are still together and staying in Las Palmas. The church is true. I love you Mom!

Have a great week!

Elder Ridd

Last Week's Letter!

This is a compilation of the emails that Alan and I received on 10/07/13. Later that day I had a little dental procedure that turned in to a big deal and I didn't get around to posting the letters until today. He is doing so well. We love when he mentions people outside of the family that he is getting letters from! Thank you so much for your support of our boy! devon.ridd@myldsmail.net


Family!

I was able to watch all of General Confernce - what an amazing conference it was - holy smokes. I watched it all live so we started at 5pm on Saturday and then the afternoon sessions ended at 11:00 at night here but we had permission from President Jackson to watch it - I didn't fall asleep one time! We watched the Priesthood session on Sunday morning at 10:00. I was thinking of you, Dad, during that session. We watched all of the sessions in English except for Priesthood. I had to watch that one in Spanish. I could understand it, but it was way too easy to zone out and then when I did I missed important things. I've never gotten so much out of conference - it just strengthened my testimony so much. I felt the spirit so strong when President Monson got up to speak at the end of Sunday morning session. I felt the spirit throughout the whole thing, but right then I just knew that he was a Prophet of God. I thought to myself, wow I should have always watched conference with this much focus, I could have gotten so much more out of them in the past!

So, one of our cousins is in the General Young Men's Presidency! That is so cool! Dad will probably be the next General Authority from our family! :)

So this is the last P-day of this transfer! Time flies by out here - holy smokes!

Thank you so much for sending the pictures and the video from to'ona'i. I loved them. Tell all of the to'ona'i family that I love and miss them and I miss all of the food!

Elder Day and I have been working hard! We have 4 baptismal dates coming up! I have to tell you about one little miracle! I was in a bathroom at a bus station and I was washing my hands and so was this 22 year old man and I just said Hola! And we started talking and now he is getting baptized in 20 days! It is so awesome! That is why it is so important to talk to everyone! His name is Victor. The other three baptismal dates are Loida on the 20th of October. If you could pray with us for her to stay off the cigarettes that would be great. She is amazing and comes to every church activity there is. Then Victor is being baptized on the 27th. Cynthia in on the 10th of November after her wedding on the 8th. And Denis, our Croatian friend is the 17th of November. If we could all pray for Denis to be able to quit smoking and to keep progressing in the Gospel that would be great.

You guys are amazing! Thank you for all of the emails! I'm sorry this is short but I love you all!

The church is true!

Elder Ridd

 

10 Weeks!

It has been almost 10 weeks since Devon left us. I told him in this letter that at the 10 week point of my mission I was just barely out of the MTC and here he is teaching and baptizing and tearing it up in the field! Just a reminder that you can email him at devon.ridd@myldsmail.net   This week's email is from letters that he sent to Alan and I. Seems like he was busy emailing everyone else and didn't have a lot of time for us this week! :)

Hola!

Yeah, it's been almost 10 weeks! Crazy huh? Another 10 weeks just about and I'll get to call you guys on the phone! I'm so happy to hear that everything is going great back home! Everything is going so great here! 

We received the above photo via email from a man who said that he was refueling (?) in the Canary Islands and ran across Devon and his companion. He said that he has a son serving a mission in Australia and he always loves to hear from people who have seen his son so he sent us this picture and a note that they are doing well. Here is what Devon said about it: I'm glad to hear that you guys got the picture from that guy! I have no idea who he was, but he was a member, he spoke English and he works for the FBI! I love when I hear English - whenever I hear anybody saying anything in English I immediately start talking to them!

I email in a local computer lab thing (we asked him where he goes to email us). It costs me about a Euro and a half to email every week. And yes, mom, I email all of my friends regularly. All of the QFL (nickname of his friend's group) is in touch and I email Jacob (Dayley his other good friend) every week. It sounds like he is doing great! (he is in the Provo MTC preparing to leave for Mexico)

I love you mom and family and a big hug and thanks to everyone who emailed me and has helped me get out here on my mission. I asked him about how he will watch General Conference next week and he said: So, I think I get to watch conference as a direct satellite transmission - it's just going to start at like 11:00 at night! The president has given us permission because I guess that is what all of the members here do! So we will go to the Capilla (chapel?) and watch it there.

 I love you all! I emailed Dad and Morgan and Nicole back so I don't have as much time, but I loved getting emails from them! The power of prayer is real! Praying and fasting is such a huge blessing in our lives. I was able to fast yesterday because we have conference this week and it was awesome. I feel like my English grammar is going down hill fast so please edit this. I love you mom and family and a big hug and thanks to everyone who emailed me and has helped me get out here on my mission.

Dad, I wanted to say what a blessing it was to be your home teaching companion for so long. The other day I realized how much that honestly prepared me for my mission! It was like an hour long glimpse in to the mission field! So, thank you for all of the good experience there. I wish you were my companion right now, we would do work!

Mom, one thing that I wasn't going to tell you at first but now I can -  When I first got here on the island I thought there must be a very severe crime problem because every night I could hear gun shots in the night. BUT, it turns out that they shoot off fireworks every night to celebrate a different Catholic saint or something. So, don't worry, I'm safe!

I love you all! The church is true!!

Elder Ridd

What a Happy Week!

This week's letter is late getting out. I have got to teach this boy how to use punctuation and paragraphs so I don't have to spend so much time editing the emails!!  Just a reminder - you can email him atdevon.ridd@myldsmail.net  or his physical address is:
 

Elder Devon Ridd

C/ Eusebio Navarro 1,4A
35003 Las Palmas
Gran Canaria
España

 Holy smokes what a bunch of amazing emails I have received this week! I am so so so so stoked for Courtney and her mission call. I know that the Lord knows what he is doing! I can just imagine the great spirit that was in the house when she opened her call. She is going to do so great in France.

 I'm so glad you all got my pictures and letters! Thank you for answering my questions and running my facebook! I love that you are doing that! Thank you for keeping a blog too! The one guy, Victor, that you added to my facebook friends will be posting lots of pictures too! I'm glad Morgan is settling in to my room :) I just realized how many weird and embarrassing things you probably found in there while you were cleaning it out... ha ha yikes! It is so great that you and Dad are taking the Strengthening Marriage classes. You guys are amazing parents. Tell the Coles that I love them and miss them! I pray for you guys and I'm so glad that everything is going great at home. :)

 The Stake Conference that we just had was so great! Elder Teixeira and Elder Reina of the Seventy were both there and they are so awesome. I got to talk to them a lot and they are great and inspired men. They made a really big deal about missionary work throughout the whole conference, so it was really really awesome to be able to be there and be a part of it. The members here are so excited that the work is progressing. There are about to be a lot of changes and what an amazing time to be here and to be on a mission. I'm not sure yet how we will watch General Conference - I will let you know when I found out!

 Ok, from my apartment I just want to let you know that I feel like Jason Bourne. Everything here reminds me of those movies - the European sirens and the stinky utilities and the passport in my pocket. I'm like, holy smokes if Jason Bourne preached the Gospel that would be me. I did an intercambio this week so I spent 24 hours with another Elder in Vecindario and it was cool to change things up. 

 That same Victor that you friended on facebook and his girlfriend Cynthia are getting married next month and then she is getting baptized right after. And... get this... they are naming their son Devon... When he asked to be my friend on facebook he saw that that was my name and they love it and now they are going to name their son after me! 

 The work is great here I love it so much! There is so much I could tell you but I just can´t! Thank you to the Johnsies for sending me letters!!! I got two from them this week! I love them and they are so spiritual! I'm getting to write them back today. Also thank you to Sister Erekson for writing me too! It was so awesome! Thank you to everyone who emailed me! I love you all. The church is true! I hope this email is sufficient. I love you mom! I hope you have a great day and a great rest of the week!

Love, Elder Ridd

The Canary Islands!

Bonjour Familia!

Thanks for the emails everyone! Thank you Mom for the long email that describes every one's lives - honestly, I love it! Keep telling me everything - it is fun to hear. I was so glad to hear about to'ona'i! Tell my whole to'ona'i family that I love them all.

Holy Smokes! I can't believe Courtney is going to get her mission call so soon! I almost cried when I read your email, I don't know why really, I think that I am just overwhelmed and feel really blessed and humbled to know that I have so many prayers and thoughts with me to help me out. You are all awesome! Hopefully Courtney gets her mission call to the Tucson mission or something so you don't have too bad of withdrawals with your kids all growing up and leaving home! :)

So, yes! I'm in the Canary Islands but there won't be pictures until next week, sorry. I am only allowed to take pictures on P-Days so we are going out after we send our emails to travel around and take some pictures.

Ok, Mom, I thought of you when I was studying my scriptures the other day - I read 1Nephi 5:8 "...the Lord hath protected my sons... and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them." So don't worry - I'm being protected out here! I am as safe as ever! I actually meant to tell you about that scripture last week but I forgot. Here is another cool scripture - Romans 15:24 - look it up. (I looked it up - I had no idea that the New Testament had a scripture about Spain!)

So here is a little update of my week: I have come to the conclusion that Gran Canaria is kind of a mix between San Diego, Haiti and Madrid. I've never been to Haiti but the apartments here look Haitian. Everybody here smokes so everybody here has terrible breath and not very many people have teeth! It is one of the biggest problems that keeps people from getting baptized - they want to get baptized but they can't stop smoking. We have a little bit different schedule than other missionaries. We wake up at 7:30 and go to bed at 11:30 with mediodia (siesta) from 2 to 4 everyday. Normally missionaries get an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner but we get 2 hours at lunch and no time for dinner.

Ok here is a good experience; about a week ago my companion and I were trying to find a less active member's house somewhere where we were not familiar at all. It was getting pretty late and we couldn't find his apartment. It turned out the address didn't exist and now we were way far away from our home. So we were pretty frustrated and decided to head back. When we started to head back, a guy ran in to us and said he wanted to come back to church and he had just been waiting to run in to some missionaries! He is from Sevilla, Spain and hadn't been to church in years. His name is Antonio and he has been to church with us for two weeks now and we have taught him two lessons. He comes to English classes every week and family night and I love him so much. He feels like an uncle or a grandpa to me. I know that we were guided to find him. He is so awesome and I think he asked to be my friend on facebook mom so friend him and then he can put some pictures on!

My Spanish is going alright. I spent my time in Madrid trying to get comfortable with the theta and now they don't even use it here in the Canary Islands! -__- I'm starting to get a watch tan line that I am pretty proud of. I have a few questions I would like answered please! Is Morgan sleeping in my room? (yes) How is that going? Can you send me some pictures of the family and stuff please? There were a lot of other questions in there that I am not going to put here for everyone to read - he does recognize that I shouldn't! Mom, I trust that you edit these letters please before you send them out to the world right?

I love you lots and pray for all of you! Thank you for everything Mom and Dad - I think about how blessed I am to have such great parents all the time. The mission is great! The church is true! Til next week!

Love, Elder Ridd

A Slideshow!!

Devon sent home a CD of pictures! They are mostly from his two MTC experiences but there are some from around Madrid as well. It looks like they got some kind of VIP tour of the Real Madrid stadium but we don't know anything for sure because there was no explanation for most of the pictures!