Major Catching Up!

3-28-11
hola mis padres espero que esten bien

yeah this year is going way fast and it sounds like marshall is doing great. i cant wait for when i can see him and how much he has grown and i hope i can grow as much as him. its tough out here but i am going to be working on it. oh and mom and dad i got the letter with 100 bucks in it and i think sister williams talked to yall, right but i will probably need like 120-150 more its going to cost about a little over 200 bucks to get my bike back so that would be great and yeah it sucks to know how much was actually wrong with my bike. i had to fix a lot and the place i went to is like the best place to fix it cuz i know that they do great. it is where i bought the bike. yeah i know i am a big boy haha and that is just we we big boys do we wear things down faster and a funny little thing - i was looking in the bike manual and one of the things that makes the bike last longer is less body weight and i know that is not me haha but i am actually working on that. we started working out every morning and eating healthier so i am feeling better over all. well this week we found a lot of great people and set some dates with a new family, the wife has five tios that are members and her mom is investigating now so i feel something good coming out of this and i am really excited for this week cuz we are going to do great things as a mission. well mis padres i love you a lot and i hope you have a great week and yeah just dont forget to get the money to me so i can get my bike back hahah and that i love you again. i think i might have mentioned that but i guess i love you hahahah adios
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Con Amor
Elder Ricobueno


3-21-11

hey mother, good to hear from you. glad you are all having fun. so am i haha. so i figured out that i have obviously been taking care of my teeth a little to much haha. i think i have been brushing to hard or flossing to hard and it has affected my gums a little so sister smith told me to take it easy for a while. i never thought i would hear that before cuz i never really took care of my teeth very good haha but now i am very good :) nice pearly white haha. well this week was good. it was good to go to the meeting with president smith. after the meeting i saw elder biehl and elder nielson for the first time in like 6 months. they have been out in the east part of texas for a while so it was good to see them again. i have a feeling that i wont get to serve out in the east in my mission but i am glad i am in the city haha, oh and padres ustedes piensen que me puedan mandar poquito dinero para que pueda lavar mis trajes porque ellos estan poquito sucio jaja pues gracias por todo y tambien tuve problemos con mi bici y tuve que comprar cosas por mi bici y no tengo basante dinero para comprar mi comida y otras cosas y tambien tengo que comprar un otro parte para mi bici porque mi crank on my bike broke a little and i need to buy another one so that would be a great help for me and i dont know if i used all the right spanish but whatever haha but i am pretty sure i did and tell miles to get better. i know how it feels. i tore some tendons in my ankle 2 days before i entered the MTC so i feel his pain haha, and could you say hi to thaoe and estella for me :) well got to get going mom. i love you, and yeah i do need a little money haha sorry for begging all the time. its only cuz i love you and i know you love me most of the time haha. well cuidense mommy love you
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Con Amor
Elder Ricobueno

3-14-11
hola familia esta semana fue fantastico jajaja

hey mom, that is way sweet that you now have a laptop haha. well it sounds like you are all having a great time back at home and yeah technoligy is great, well this week we - i was on an exchange and i was with my zone leader and we sat in our appartment and made goals for the mission and it really helped me out and be more focused and i have actually been doing them haha and i have seen a change in me the last few weeks, we have been working out every morning for the last few days since the goal setting and we are going to continue doing it and it feels great and we talked that it is going to be hard for the first like 4 weeks but then my ZL told me after the trial of your faith it will be easier so i am going to do my best to be a better missionary. well this last week there were a few baptisms for the other missionaries this transfer is now over and it was hard with no one at church. we have been working really hard but i know that the lord will bless us as we continue to work hard. like i said before the trial of our faith is here, this transfer we never had an investigator at church so it was kind of hard with that but we found a lot of great people and i can see good things coming in the future... planting seeds that will soon grow into trees. we talked about that at a district meeting

6But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall areap also sparingly; and he which bsoweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.7Every man according as he apurposeth in his heart, so let him give; not bgrudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a ccheerfuldgiver.8And God is able to make all agrace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:9(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.10Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your arighteousness;)

so pretty much if we do what need to do we will be blessed. i think in the BOM it says that a lot of times that if we listen to the prophets we will prosper. and now that i am trying to be better i think i am going to be seeing the blessings coming pretty soon and i am thankful for this gospel and the blessings that come from being a member of this church and for the opportunity to be a missionary and bringing gods children to know the happiness that we know and its such a blessing when we see someone come into the waters of baptism and make that convenio con dios. well mom and dad, i am once again thankful for your example to your children, i love you both so much and i hope you both have a great week and that you are both reading still in spanish. dont forget. i am right now in mosiah 13. i slacked for a bit but since that goal setting i am doing a lot better and i am grateful for the mission leaders that we have. they know whats best for us cuz they can recieve revelation for us. well i love you have fun this week.
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Con Amor
Elder Ricobueno

3-7-11

haha yeah those 3 weeks went by fast. its crazy that my bro is 21, he's old now haha. thats cool that you got the house fixed up and got a GUN haha thats awesome and yeah this world is crazy and you do need protection and a gun is perfect haha. so this last week the missionaries in the district have been getting robbed. its pretty crazy. satan is a jerk and yeah thanks for my tax. just a pregunta how much was it cuz i dont know. so where is miles in these pictures? i didnt see him or was he at church? well anywhos thats cool that you are getting a new car, well this email is probably going to be short cuz i really dont remember a lot that happened this week. it was just a normal week i guess but i am glad that you are all having a great time and i hope it continues. oh and another ? how far is miles on his papers? well have a dood day. love you mom

To Dad:
"What are your plans for your p-day?"
well we are going to email haha then finish laundry then probably play some volleyball and i need to go to the bike shop to get the crank fixed on my bike but i dont know if we are going to do that today but i think the inside has been stripped and if you could get me some of my tax money to fix that cuz its been happening for a while now and then going to go out and find some great people to teach

Yeah, so there is an elder that goes home with me and he lives in yakima and he is pretty cool. his name is elder dunbar and yeah, the weather is a lot nicer and i really do like it when someone tries to say something to another person about the "MORMONS" and then they get it thrown back in there face and this girl we are teaching is way awesome and way ready to accept the gospel. she is way cool and she is only 16 so a really good age to change for the better, and yeah, it is kinda sad when we see people that could change. they get scared of what other people will think about them but this 16 year old doesnt even care what other people think of her. its awesome, and all we can rely on is the spirit cuz he knows who is prepared and he will let us know if we listen, and yeah, i saw the picture of your office. it is way awesome - 4 moniters haha. thats sick haha, and thats sad to hear that roselee had a miscarriage. tell her i love her for me :) well like you said HF is in charge not us and when we put our troubles in his hands we are going to be ok. well dad i hope you have a great week i love you a ton and i was wondering, you know that 501 SPanish verbs book that you have could you send that to me to help me out that would be great, oh and where are you at in reading the BOM in spanish, well have a great day. i love you again adios padre
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Con Amor
Elder Ricobueno

2-28-11

well hello there parents. well this week was a great one. we had president smith come out teaching with us on Tuesday and he committed one of our investigators to be baptized and he was just way bold with them but very loving. i learned a lot from him and how we need to focus on the fathers because if they dont go anywhere then it will be hard for the family to progress, which is totally true and it made me realize that the father has the biggest say in the matter, well this week we had a lot of exito with finding people. a lot of miracles were happening and it was a blessing for us, but yesterday was a tough day. we got stopped by a girl that was wondering what we are doing and we started teaching her and oh boy was satan doing his best to not let her learn but this young girl, she knew exactly what was going on and we told her that satan is going to put a lot of bad things in her way to not let her know, but she is way solid and she is prepared to learn and she knows that she cant take any crap from other people, and then some other people drove up that she knew and started telling her about the "MORMONS" and she said no thats not them, these guys are actually cool, haha. that blew up in their face. she is way solid and i see a great future for this girl, and then later that night - a little more of satan. my comp got his mochila stolen with all his stuff and his camera which has all his pictures on it from his whole mission so he is pretty mad but we have been praying a lot and we know we can get it back but if you all could pray that we find it as well that would be great, well that is all i got for now. i hope you are all enjoying life, have a great week padres love y'all
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Con Amor
Elder Ricobueno

2-21-11

yeah i got it. it was a great party box haha. well speaking about tax refunds, do you have mine as well cuz from what i know it should be big for me aha. well thanks for the money again. it is gone but for good reasons. i needed to buy new bike tires. i completely wore away the old ones already and they would have popped soon from what i was told from the guys at the bike shop. but i am learning better how to manage money and these new tires will last longer cuz they are ment for the road instead of the last ones that are for the mountains, well mom can you have someone get austin francis's email for me? i want to write him a letter or something so could you do that please so that i can write to him? thanks for your help again. well this last week has been fun. we made a gigantic map for our appartment that is pretty legit and the area looks huge on it hah. well and its cool to know that they are going to name their baby. wish it could have been a little boy but oh well, things happen right? well this last week was good. we did a lot of finding and we taught a lot of lessons but that was pretty much this week. oh and we had our first district meeting since we got to this area so it was good and then we were able to take the bus again to do a baptismal interview with some kids and they are going to be great members. they have really strong testimonies, well that was pretty much the highlights of this week but once again thank you for the gift box and being awesome. i love you mom. have a great week

2-14-11

well that is cool that the stake is getting split. that means that it is growing right? haha well this last week was good. we had the chance to hear from elder ringwood of the seventy and i learned a lot from him - about how every one of us is in the missions we are in for a reason and you may not know why but later on other people might know why and you might never know but there is someone here in our missions that we will help and it really made me think if that has happened to me but i guess i might not know until the after life :) and then later that night we went and had a fireside with him and another area 70 so it was a good day for the missionaries and during the 2 meetings we had about 10 missionaries in our area because our area covers the mission office, presidents house, the chappel that we do transfers and pretty much everything that happens in the mission happens in our area. haha i guess the president wanted to keep an eye on us :) and he is coming out teaching with us on the 22nd so i am excited about that. i think it will be a great experiencia for us and i think i will learn a lot being just the 3 of us, well that was the highlight of this week and thanks for the birthday wishes. i hope i have a good birthday as well. it was funny this morning. we had breakfast with the members that the sisters live with and there were 5 companionships there and they sang happy birthday to me and another elder so today was off to a good start haha. well i hope you all have a great week this week and have fun. i love you mom and dad. have a good valentines day
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Con Amor
Elder Ricobueno