PICTURES !!!!!!!!!!

Ridge with President and Sister Christensen at the Guatemala MTC (Centro de Capacitacion Misional, or CCM)

Ridge and Elder Davis. They were companions at the MTC in Provo, and again at the CCM. Elder Davis set a constant example of commitment and hard work, and Ridge was grateful for his example. It sounded like they really had a wonderful time together. Here they are, equally yoked:

In front of the Guatemala Temple. The temple is across the street from the CCM, so they got to attend every week. They went through an English-speaking session, because President Christensen said that the temple is not the place to be trying to learn a language; it is a place to feel the Spirit.

Ridge's District at the CCM:

Ridge and his new companion, Elder Hall. Elder Hall is from Portland, Oregon and is a District Leader. They are in the town of Chicuimulilla, which is about 20 km from the Pacific Ocean. He said that it is beautiful and HOT. There is a branch there and this past Sunday, there were about 113 members in attendance (that's actually about like our ward on some Sundays). There are 600 on the rolls, so they have a lot of work to do! I will add his last email below so you can all read what he has to say. There are a few parts of his emails that are my favorites. One is "Our apartment is above a house of a family and they own some dogs and birds and every morning I wake up to the parrot just talking away in Spanish. I like it."

Here is his email from Monday, October 12, 2009:

First batch of pictures!!Ok, so to answer your questions... I did not recieve your package or letters. I probably wont for a few more weeks, but it is all good :) It will be that one time when I just really need it and that hasn´t come yet. Everything happens for a reason :) I did get a letter from Ellie that was forwarded from the MTC in Provo my first day in the field. It was old, but nice to hear from her. We do live in Chiquimulilla. It is a pretty good sized town. I can´t answer any questions about the area or the mountain or anything becuase I have no idea.. haha. I am learning though... I pretty much follow my companion blindly around the town. I have 5 more weeks to learn it though. There are internet cafes all over the towns and that is what we use to check our emails. We usually meet as a district in Chiquimulilla because Elder Hall is the district leader, but right now we are at a zone activity in a town called Barberena so that is where we are emailing from right now. It costs 6 quetz for 1 hour and the ratio from quetz to dollars is 8:1 so it costs 75 cents for an hour. I guess that is pretty good.I am glad to hear that you enjoyed conference. I did too. I love reading my notes from the talks because they were all so good. A really good quote was from Elder Uchdorf: "Try and try again the impossible until it becomes possible and then try the possible until it becomes a habit." Not word for word but that is the jist of it. I love it in relation to missionary work... for instance right now I am having a hard time talking to my companion in Spanish. I really want to but it is so easy to talk in English and easy to justify it because we speak spanish with investigators and members all day so I know I am getting plenty of practice with spanish, but I keep getting these thoughts and promptings that I need to speak Spanish 24-7. I just need to keep trying this seemingly impossible task until it becomes possible and then after I realize it is possible I need to keep doing it until it is a habit and it feels unnatural to speak English. I just want to learn the language so bad! I have been blessed a lot with my Spanish though. Although I have a hard time understanding them when they talk way fast or get lost easy in long conversations or don´t know every work I am so thankful that I can communicate my feelings and desires. Most new missionaries can´t and I do need to focus on the positive. Anyways, that is a small example of how I can apply that quote and there are so many other ways to as well.Mission life in the field is amazing. The best. I love it so much. Right now it isn´t good as it will be, but I am so excited and hopeful. The reason that I say that is that I am mostly pretty quiet, just trying to absorb everything. I have learned so much in this past week, but it is basically that I dont know the area or where we are going or where people live or the people themselves. I cant remember who is who because there are so many people and it gets tiring following the conversations. The Lord is helping me a lot and I know that within a week or two I will know what is going on with the investigators and members and be able to help more rather than being passive.The lessons are going great. It varies, but for the most part if it is to someone that I dont know very well I am afraid to teach or say too much because I dont really know how much or what Elder Hill has already taught them. If I get a prompting to say or teach something I definately act on it, but he teaches about 75% of the time to those that I don´t know. It is a bit easier for the investigators who I know better. I feel more comfortable saying what I want to say and I know what is going on, so I can adapt to their needs.The church here is great and the members are pretty strong. They do a lot of missionary work. The sad news is that there are 600 members on the regitry for our area and we had 113 ppl show up to church. Elder Hall said that this is the most that he has seen in the 6 weeks he has been here. I guess some missionaries came through this area just baptizing people but not teaching them what they needed to know or helping them gain their own testimony. They just told them that they needed to get baptized and taught them what they needed to know for the baptizimal interview. Sad day. We are trying to do all that we can do to help out with that, but most of the people that did get baptized don´t remember much from our church and dont consider themselves members.Oh, before I forget, barrio is the right word, mom. It means neighborhood and in church terms it means ward.Some good news: we only need 3 more worthy preisthood members to form a ward. We found a very pilas (this word just means that they are really interested and we can feel their testimony grow) investigator from a member reference. He is probably in his 40s and 50s and says that he has been looking for the truth and doesnt like the feelings he gets when he goes to the catholic or evangelical church (by the way, those are the only 2 churches that anyone belongs too... if I meet someone and talk to them I can bet that they are catholic. If not, then for sure they are evangelical. I have only met like 1 or 2 ppl that werent either). Anyways, he already has a testimony of Joseph Smith and came to church yesterday. We also have 1 potential preisthood holder getting baptized this saturday and another one who is also very pilas. He came to church too and got involved in planning for an Elders quorum service project. He said he will go to that and if he does it will be a great opportunity for him to be fellowshiped into the branch better. Altogether we had 7 investigators come to church yesterday. That is pretty good.Ok, so about the title of this email. My bug bites are innumerable. I am just getting used to being itchy. It´s awesome. I always try and kill every bug that I see, then we ate at the district president´s house (equivalent to stake president) and he shared an insight from a book that Joseph Fielding Smith about how every living thing has a spirit and I felt really bad.Our apartment is above a house of a family and they own some dogs and birds and everymorning I wake up to the parrot just talking away in Spanish. I like it.Wish I could write more... Just know that I love it here and I am finding and teaching those people that have been prepared to hear our message. enjoy the pictures. They are from the CCM.... My favorite district ever. Also, the Guat. temple and one picture of me and Elder Hall. I gave Elder Hall moms email address and he gave it to his parents. Good luck with everything and I love you!