Christmas

this week was a really really long week it felt like it lasted three weeks.  monday we had a bunch of stuff we had to do that we did not get done with until 6, then i had to get my hair cut and that took awhile. we did not get a single lesson taught or any thing. tuesday was just as bad but we did have good food, we just had a bunch of stuff we had to do plus my comp had to skype his family on Christmas eve, so nothing got done that day.  usually when we go a day with out teaching i start to feel depressed but when we went two days, i was in shock and bitter. 

 

Christmas was a little bit better, i did not feel that good and listening to people was hard, understanding them was almost impossible, but i got through it.   we did not get a ton done but it was amazing, first we had a really hard time finding a person with whom we could Skype.  the family my comp used was not home and all the people we could think of were not home or could not help us. we went to a diffreant area and started looking there. i was kinda freaking out and some guy in a shop started yelling at me which is not uncommon at all, i usually don't listen but this time i did.  it turns out he was yelling in english and it was stuff like, do good and keep going!  i felt i really needed it at that time, the lord works in mysterious ways and through other people. i hope i can find him and thank him, i just need to remember what shop he was in.  after that i was still worried about were i whould skype and the other elders were not, we found an internet cafe that appeared to be open but they were just closing and they would not let us in even though we offered double. then we found another one but it did not have a webcam. we found a webcam at a member's house and went back but they didn't have skype so i just gave up.  i sent my family my number but then my companion decided to call our primary prez who we talk with a lot, she said she had a computer with a webcam and they would download skype for me.  after we got there i just had to wait for it to install then i was able   to talk to my family and Kolton who is close enugh to family that it's not necessary to put his name seprate from family. 

 

but that wasn't the highlight of my week, i would have thought it would have been but i had some thing more important happen.  on thursday i felt terrible, i was sick and i did not want to be on a mission anymore. i had just finished talking with my family and i just felt terrible.   i was at a member's house for lunch and we decided to teach a simple lesson with them.  i opened my scriptures and i just opened to where i had read that morning and i found a scripture i had marked.  i noticed i had marked it different then the rest so it much be important. i read it and almoast started to cry, i was able to bear my testimony without crying but i don't even know what the scriptre said, i just know it was not for the members it was for me and i needed to hear it.  i dont remember where it was but i have it marked as the scripture that may have saved my mission.  i re-read it in english but it didn't have the same effect.

 

 after that i have just kinda been happy a lot. we taught Olivia and her three kids that night and they were getting baptized on saturday so we had to teach all the lessons but the restoracion and we had two hours to do it.  i thought we couldn't do it but we reviewed the restoration and then taught the rest of the lesson in about thirty minutes.  i was astounded and that night i thought we must not have taught it very well but the next day was her interveiw for baptism and she knew every thing perfectly.  we baptizd her and her 8 year old daughter on Saturday.  i baptied Validia, her daughter and Elder Richart baptized Olivia.  it was amazing, we had quite a few members there which was good.  Sunday, we were late to church so i thought we missed their confirmation but the bishop saved it until the end so we could be there. 

 

 

it was a really rough week but it ended well and i am so excited to have my first Christmas done. it was torture but i made it through and i can focus better now. i just need to keep my mind on others and not me or stuff.

 

thanks for all of your prayers, i can feel them help me.   i see miracles daily, i just need to be more aware of them. 

 

thanks every one  

Elder Ritchie