Elder Ritter - 7/17/2023

Hola a todos! 

This week was super crazy with transfers going on. It felt like it absolutely blew by in about 5 seconds, but the days felt incredibly long. And we did loooots of driving (actually Elder Hawkshaw driving and me just sitting in the passenger seat, but same diff). Driving people back and forth from train station to the office and back again, driving packs of missionaries to the airport, driving missionaries to and from the mission home, it was bonkers. On top of that, all the new missionaries were coming in and we had to prepare presentations, sim cards, contacts for the mission, and a million other things to make sure everything went smoothly. All in all, it did go quite well! Technology wise, everybody got their cards, phones, areas etc. Travel wise, everybody got to where they needed to be on time. There were only a few minor hiccups that I may or may not have caused but overall it was OK! First transfer of (I'm assuming) many down.

Seeing the departing missionaries go was especially sad, considering 2 of them were my companions, 1 was an old district leader, and 5 were old zone leaders. I'm definitely gonna miss Elder Stafford and Elder Coello. They were both wonderful companions who taught me a whole lot about missionary work and what it means to be a missionary. I'm really gonna miss them, but it was good to see them one last time before they headed out. Now every single one of my companions (except for my boy Robinson) are all home. I've had some OLD companions for sure. 

The newbies all came in as well! They were all super exhausted from their plane ride, but absolutely STOKED to serve, which gave me a lot of hope for the mission especially since we lost so many great missionaries. We got them all set up with their trainers, gave them presentations, and started driving them all away. They're gonna do so well, and I can't wait to see where they go with their trainers. 

In terms of missionary work, this week we were not doing super great, not going to lie. But we did have a lesson with Jesús, and we taught him about the word of wisdom. He made us a little bit nervous when he asked us, "you mean that I have to give up smoking AND coffee? You're asking a lot!" But then he proceeded to say immediately afterwards, "I guess I'll just drink Colocao (powdered chocolate milk here) in the mornings instead." He literally just ACCEPTED it and we carried on. He's such a beast and we love him. Some prayers for him would be really appreciated though. He's having financial struggles currently, and his daughter recently had an accident and ended up in the hospital. If you could take some time to ask God today to help him keep his apartment and have enough to eat this week, that would be very much appreciated. 

¡Cristo vive! ¡El Libro de Mormón es verdadero!

¡Os amo!

Elder Ritter 

Fotos:

Ramen night

Boys in the lift

Boys with their newbies in the lift

Hermana cruz tech elder??

This delicious plate courtesy of a member that's not even in my ward.