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