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!)

December 2nd, 2013

Just a reminder that you can email Devon at devon.ridd@myldsmail.net or you can send him things at 

Elder Devon Ridd

c/Eusebio Navarro 1,4A

35003 Las Palmas

Gran Canaria

Espana

Well Mom, I'm happy to hear about your new job. That job is the answer to a lot of prayers! Heavenly Father really knows each one of us and it is amazing to me that even though he has so many kids and so many things to do, he still pays attention to the little things in our lives because he wants each one of us to be happy! Congratulations Mom and let me know all about your first week!

Elder Nielson made it! He is awesome! I will send some pictures next week and tell you a little bit more about him. I gave him Elder Day's bed though and I continue to sleep on the ground :) Ha ha Mom, it is really not that big of a deal - I like to sleep on the floor. Goodness, I should never have said anything!

Everything here is going so great! Miracles all of the time! God is still a God of miracles just like it says in the Book of Mormon. I don't have much time but thank you for all of the emails and the support and the prayers! I love you all!

Elder Devon Ridd

Everything is going great! Miracles all the time. God is still a God of a miracles just like it says in the Book of Mormon :) I dont have much time but thank you for the email and the support and the prayers! 

November 25, 2013 - He Has A New Companion!

Hi Mom!

Thank you and thank everyone else for the emails. It is so great to hear the news from home!

Yes, I got a new companion! Elder Day is back in the peninsula and my new companion is Elder Nielson. I don't know him yet though... He is waiting for his residency card in the peninsula so he might have to wait another week or so before he gets here. So, right now I am in a trio with Elder McFarland and Elder Larsen from our apartment and it is good fun. Elder Nielson is only one transfer ahead of me so when he gets here we are going to be a pretty new set of Elders! I am really excited but I know there will probably be some difficult times. Thank you dad for sharing what you have learned from the scriptures. I will be sure to thank
Heavenly Father for my challenges.

So, today our P-day is only going to last until 4:00 because on Thursday we are going to spend a little extra time feasting on Thanksgiving dinner with the senior couple serving here. So, I am really excited for that but I will be thinking about all of you. I hope you guys have a great Thanksgiving back home. :)

Everything going on about the new Gilbert Temple sounds exciting! That is going to be an amazing experience! Keep me up on what is going on with that! Send me a picture of the Madrid Temple that Ryan drew for Dad! I love that kid!

Let me share with you a little bit about what happened this week! We had Danny's baptism! He is a stud! I honestly don't know if I will ever have another miracle like him again on my mission. I could write novels about him. Here is the short story, we found him on a Saturday night and less than three weeks later he was baptized! One of the biggest tender mercies of the Lord ever and I am just so glad that he found the Church and we were doing what we were supposed to be doing too so that the Lord could put him in our path. He is going to be such a strong member of the church her in Las Palmas.

I am doing my best and being obedient! I love you all!

Love, Elder Ridd

November 18, 2013

I am so behind on posting these letters. I sometimes feel like I want to keep them to myself for a day or two and then a whole week goes by and it is time for a new one! This week (December 9) we didn't really get a letter because he is out doing a fun activity on his p-day so I am taking the opportunity to get caught up! As always, you can email Devon at devon.ridd@myldsmail.net and here is his physical mailing address:

Elder Devon Ridd

c/Eusebio Navarro 1,4A

35003 Las Palmas

Gran Canaria

Espana

Hi Mom!

Sorry for jumping over the missionaries. Don't worry though, I did it with ease ;) if you saw the pictures from last week then you know I had to chastise him for that jumping picture! He loves to jump over things but has been hurt in the past... 

We are having Zone Conference right now and it is awesome because the whole zone came here to Las Palmas and we are just chilling. I am using Sister Buhler's (couple serving on the island) laptop and she says hi mom! I took some really awesome pictures this morning that were way sweet so I will send those next p-day. 

We were supposed to have two baptisms this week but both of the people got sick. 

Well, I love you all. Transfers on on Monday and we find out this Saturday what is going on so that is super exciting. I can't for two years when I get home and I won't be able to speak English. That is going to be awesome. The church is true!

Love,

Elder Ridd

More Pictures!!

Yesterday's email came much later in the day then we are used to. I was a little worried. When he finally emailed he said that they had gone on a big hike in the morning and were emailing in the afternoon and that he would send pictures. But all of the pictures were of his recent baptism. Then today I found these pictures in my junk mail folder. I don't know why they went there! But they look like they are from his hike! I see that some things never change - he is still JUMPING!! I wish he wouldn't send me those pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Veteran's Day (and more pictures!!)

Two weeks ago I asked Devon some questions about his living arrangements etc.. He answered back last week but I thought he was joking. He wasn't. I think maybe I won't ask any more questions about that kind of stuff!

Hola Mom and family!!

Yes, I really do sleep on the floor and there really are bugs everywhere. I wear my hoodie with the hood up and cover myself completely with my sheet at night to keep the bugs off of me... but, I love it :) It is all part of the experience! Don't worry about me - I really am doing fine!

So, Victor and Cynthia got married on Friday and then she got baptized yesterday! It was so awesome! There are some pictures from that at the bottom of this post. I asked him about why he was golfing in his shirt and tie and also about some of the other pictures that I have seen on facebook of him eating at people's houses! Yes, we golfed in our regular clothes just because we felt like it. The rule is that should wear your proselyting clothes as much as you can so we just said ehh, what the heck. I really have gained almost 20 pounds. I am eating lots and lots of yogurt and cereal that I buy from the store and lots and lots of frozen food that you just stick in the microwave... ha ha it is awesome. We pretty much only get fed by the members on Sundays and even then we sometimes don't always do that. I think the 20 pounds is


because of all of the yogurt I eat! And because of our eating schedule! Normally, missionaries get 1 hour for lunch and 1 hour for dinner. We get two hours for mediodia (lunch? siesta?) and no time for dinner. So, we eat a ton during mediodia and then usually a couple of yogurts right before bed. So, we proselyte for like 6 hours straight after mediodia without eating.

Transfers are on the 25th or something like that. Everything is going great here! We should have a couple more baptisms coming before the transfer ends and the ward is really starting to kick in to gear and it is awesome! The church is true! I love you all! Thank you for everything that you do. Os amo!

Love,
Elder Ridd

November 4, 2013 (With Pictures!!)

Wow Mommy! Thanks for the email! That was a good one! You said you want to know more about our living conditions. I sleep on the floor on some old blankets, our electricity hasn't worked for the last couple of days, I've gained like 20 pounds and we have every type of bug known to man in our apartment. (This is where he should have said "I'm just kidding") There are four of us in our apartment. It has been such wonderful weather here. I love it.

I got to wail on some golf balls last Monday! We have some sweet investigators right now. Cynthia is getting baptized this Sunday and Olga and Loida are both getting baptized next Sunday. We have a new investigator named Daniel that will probably get baptized after that! It's so awesome!

This week was really sweet. I had intercambios (exchanges or splits I am assuming!) so Elder Day (his companion) went to a different area and I got Elder Cross with me who is brand new to the mission and doesn't speak any Spanish. We had to teach two lessons and contact some people in some other parts of the Island. We also got a call from a menos activo (less active member?) and had to go to a hospital and give a blessing to a guy who was doing really bad after back surgery! So, I gave my first blessing in Spanish on Tuesday! I have done the anointing before but never the big one, so that was a great experience. So, yeah, my Spanish really got put to the test this week. It was cool.

Good job to the DRHS golf team! And I am so excited for Justin and his mission call! I love that kid! He is going to tear it up out there! Thank you to everyone who sent me emails this week. I am sad for Jacob about his Grandma. I will continue to pray for him and his family.

Everything is going great here. We are visiting a lot of old investigators and seeing if they are ready and prepared now to hear the gospel. We found one guy named Hector who lives in Arucas right next to the cathedral (look that up!) He lives in a 300 year old mansion all by himself and he is way ready to hear the gospel! It was so cool being able to visit him. The Lord's timing is different than our timing and sometimes we just have to wait for when it is the right time. The people here are so great. I'm really starting to love them. This work is the best!! Thank you for all of the support and everything that you and Dad have taught me. You guys are so great!

Tell Morgan and Nicole and everyone else that I love them! Until Next week!

Elder Ridd

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