The 10 Euro Miracle - 10/23/17

Anziano Ridd with his new companion and apartment mates.
L-R: Anziano Osmond, Anziano Allred, Anziano Ridd and Anziano Wijesundera

New companions!
Anziano Wijesundera and Anziano Ridd in Perugia

Hey guys!

This week was soooo pack with stuff. I mean, PACKED. This email is a small attempt to explain what has been going on. 

Well the event of the week was definitely Elder Ballard coming. He is amazing and has such a powerful testimony in Jesus Christ. He talked to us a bunch about miracles and prayer. I loved that he invited us to seek the will of our Heavenly Father instead of try to command him around. He knows what’s best for us, we just need to ask him what we should do. Also he totally remembered Dad by name. 

So, the results of transfer calls on Monday surprised the masses of our house. The go like this. Anziano Waddell is going to work in the YSA in Rome, Anziano McConkie is going to be with Anziano Toronto and remain in Pescara. I have been sent away to serve in the most northern city in our mission, Perugia. So after many goodbyes, and much sadness, I am in the beautiful Perugia. Things are great though. I have a great companion, Anziano Wijesundera from Malibu, California, and the guys in the house up here are studs as well: Anziano Osmond from the land of Provo, and Anziano Allred from Williamsburg, Virginia. We make a great team to get the group here to become a branch. 

I came crashing down in Perugia is its most famous moment. Perugia was in mid-swing of its Eurochocolate - a massive European chocolate festival. It was so busy here. Surprising, I found myself broke due to all the travels and couldn’t buy much chocolate to fatten myself with. But if you wanna know, Perugia is a city of chocolate. When we wake up we smell chocolate in the air...also due to the fact that the Perugia chocolate factory is right next to our house.

Blessings on blessings, KL was baptized and confirmed last weekend. It was awesome to hear from him and he told me how great he felt. He even brought a friend who now wants to follow Jesus and be baptized. Go KL!

Now to the ten Euro miracle: so, I mentioned I was broke. That was true except for the 10 euro I had saved to buy groceries today. So, limiting myself to 10 euro, I bought a bunch of stuff and made sure it was under 10. As I checked out I saw that it was 10 items, and I got worried I spent too much. The cashier looks at me and says, that will be 10 euro. EXACTLY. that was the sickest thing ever. Miracles happen! Have faith.

Love you all! 

Anziano Ridd 

Pescara’s Got Talent (and Baptisms) - 10/16/17

Anziano Ridd & Anziano McConkie with their good friend

Pescara missionaries with President Pickerd, at the first meetings of the new chapel
in Pescara a few weekends ago.
Photo credit: Pickerd's Italy Rome Mission blog

Hey family!

This week was pretty dang great. Besides seeing success in teaching a few new families, there were some awesome experiences I want to share. 

First thing, tonight is transfer calls, so this week I may leave or my dear son and life-long friend, Anziano McConkie, may leave. Either way, I most likely will have a new companion next week. Sad.

Then J, one of the sisters' investigators, was baptized! So we got the chance to witness that and congratulate her on following Jesus Christ. And right after, K passed his interview for baptism and next weekend he will also be making promises with God. We all are excited!

Following the baptism of J, we had a ward talent show. It was magnificent. Let’s just say that after every talent show, I feel so much love for the members and happiness to serve with them. They are so talented. 

So as an appetizer to our mission conference this week with Elder Ballard, he did a broadcast for the whole European area Sunday night, which was awesome. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ. Anyways, I wanted to share a bit from what he said because I loved it. 

Elder Ballard invited us to heed Jesus Christ’s advice to Joseph Smith to “be still and know that I am God.” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:16; see also Psalm 46:10). With that, he shared an experience he had when he sought to follow the will of God and was led to ask a blessing upon the land of Ethiopia. Because of that, the drought that was in the land was broken, and every day he was in Ethiopia it rained. He goes on to say that this had nothing to do to him; it had to do with his willingness to seek the will of God and believe in miracles. He then said something that I have realized here in the mission: The greatest miracle is the miracle of accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. I realized that if we seek the will of God, He will always lead us to people who are ready to accept His word, and we will see the miracles in their lives. I hope we all choose to help someone accept the gospel this week, and help bring a fullness of joy into our lives and theirs. 

I love you all a ton! Believe in miracles, and take time to know the Lord and his will.

Anziano Ridd

Love the Lord, and Trust in Him Too - 10/9/17

Hey family!

This week was pretty good, and it was just full of hard work. Sometimes the work truly is just hard for a bit, but when you have a great companion like Anziano McConkie it’s always fun. 

Anyways, this week we made good progress with K. He is working on being baptized pretty soon, and is learning a ton every day as he is reading the Book of Mormon. Sadly, it seems we have been cursed during the last week with a lot of people who either broke their phones or lost them...that doesn’t help the work, to say the least.

But we trust in the Lord. For example, the curse also included us. Last P-day, at the end, we realized we had lost our phone. After a couple of minutes of searching at home, Anziano McConkie and I looked at each other and both received an answer to where it was at the same time...the beach. So we quickly left to go find it, and what do ya know,  it was on the beach, just where we imagined it. Thank goodness we trusted that quick prompting though, because a missionary is nearly powerless without a phone now days. 

Some experiences we have had recently have made me reflect on the thought - Trust in the Lord. I have seen in my life, when things don’t go as “planned” or the “way we wanted” we have 2 options. Show faith and go on with a good attitude and turn to the Lord for the answers we don’t have, or be miserable and stop progressing. As we trust in the Lord every day - in the little things - we see miracles. When you get stood up at a lesson, it’s easy to get upset or annoyed. The hard thing to do is trust He has a plan for you that hour...a plan that will bless your life or someone else's life. I’ve seen this so many times first-hand, so next time you feel things are not going right, look around. See if you can bless the life of someone else and trust in the Lord.

Love y’all!!

Anziano Ridd

PS - MK GOT BAPTIZED IN ROME.

SHOUT OUTS

1. WAY TO GO NICHOLAS GOODRICH, GETTING ENGAGED!!
2. WAY TO GO MARISSA EYLER, GOING THROUGH THE TEMPLE!!

Anziano Ridd and his friend MK