Greetings from Avignon

2/1/10

Bonjour,

Bonjour ma très chère famille. J'espère que vous allez bien cette semaine. je suis content que vous avez passé une bonne semaine avec les petits Martin's; et passé une bonne fête chez Brooke. C'est fou qu'elle a cinq ans déjà. J'ai eu une bonne semaine nous avons vu les bons choses et l'œuvre ici est en train d'exploser.

So I want to start out by answering a few questions. First, Elder Swanson has been out for about a year and a half or actually a bit longer. He is from Arizona first of all, but lived in Utah the three years before he started serving a mission. He is really cool and we have a lot of fun together and we are doing some good work. So pretty much all the Amis here were dropped because they where not progressing right before I got here, so we are in the process of building up our teaching pool. It feels a lot like my first few weeks in Pau. That being because we don't have many amis and our rendez-vous are not as numerous. When I left Pau we taught 21 lessons durning my last week. This last week in Avignon, we taught 9 lessons. It is a lot less, but it's really exciting to try to build up a city. It's also a lot of work and every time I try to put the load on my shoulders I realize how small I really am and how I can't do anything alone and that's when the Lord steps in and we see the miracles. I really love this work and it's so interesting to see how the Lord accomplishes his will through us in ways we could never expect. We have a branch here is Avignon and it is much smaller than the ward in Pau. I love the Branch here though. It is alive and kicking with great strong members. There were about 40 maybe there at church last week. Another problem is they all live an hour or so away from Avignon itself, so that makes it hard to work with members or visit them or even eat with them. Still they are making great efforts and sacrifices for us. It's a great branch. Elder Swanson and I are the only missionaries in Avignon. There are rumors that the transfer after this one, there will no longer be missionaries here in Avignon since the number of missionaries coming to Europe is declining rapidly. So the pressure is on Elder Swanson and me to keep Avignon alive. No not really it all depends on the revelation Pres. Carter receives. The work is looking up here though. I guess 9 lessons is more than usual and we have found two new Amis just this last week, so the work is progressing and it is very exciting.

So Avignon its self is very pretty. It is so cool to walk around in a citadel that was built well before Columbus was even born. It was build in the 11th century, I believe. The Bridge is cool also but right next to it is the Palais de Pape. It is a huge castle and cathedral that the popes would live in back in the day. It is huge and there are crazy side streets next to it. I feel like I am literally in middle earth. It is so sweet. I'll have to send some pictures. It's so awesome. I am really glad that I have the opportunity to serve here.

So Yeah that is a lot from me about me. I hope things go well and are not too busy for you all it sounds like it is a pretty busy time. I wish you all the best and Love you all a lot.

Elder Ritter

PS my address is:

46 rue Carnot. Its pretty nice and really big for a missionary apartment in France;

Sûr le pond d'avignon on y dance on y dance

11/18/10

Dear Fam and Friends,

So after about twelve hours on train today, I finally made it to my new ville. I am here on nearly the others side of the mission at Avignon with Elder Swanson. I've only been here for a couple hours now, but I can tell I'm going to like it. It is not a huge city, about the size of Pau, but it is really pretty. There is a super old castle-like wall that surrounds the whole centre ville. It is really sweet. I'm going to miss Pau a lot. I really came to realise how much I would miss it when I was giving my farewell talk to the ward. I have made some pretty awesome friends in that ward and city. I can tell it's a good thing that I left though. Changing it up a bit has already made me excited and pumped up to work harder, even though I am dead tired after all day train rides and lugging heavy suit cases everywhere. I will sleep well tonight. I'll have to send you pictures of this place soon. I have heard great things and am already impressed. Oh and Elder Swanson seems pretty dang cool. He actually was the companion of Elder Moon right before I came into the mission. So since I replaced him at Pau we have common ground to talk about. It should be a lot of fun.

Wow, Elder Gibbons called you. That is sweet! I'm glad he is doing well and it doesn't surprise me at all that he is dating a lot. It is a bit strange to think he is back home in Utah and getting back to the rest of his life. We had a lot of good times together and saw a lot of miracles. He was a great missionary and I learned a ton from him. It will be fun to hang out with him again in a couple years. I still have 2 years left right? It's so crazy how fast time flies. I have nearly been in France for six months now. So Crazy!

Hey so yeah I really enjoyed your emails this week. Thanks so much for writing to me. I love you all so much and am so glad that things seem to be going well. I can't wait to hear form you all again next week.

Love

Elder Ritter

PS. I'm glad you got my card I hope it was alright. Oh and Brooke yes I really, really liked the missionary pictures that you made for me. Thanks!

Last Week in Pau

1/11/10

Alrighty,

so this week has been a good one. Its pretty much same old same old, so yeah it's good. In a week from today though I will more than likely be emailing you from another city so you will all have to make guesses where I'll be going. That will be hard to do though, epically since you don't know all the cities that are opened for missionary work. In any case I am pretty excited see a new place, but like I said I will really miss Pau. If you came to pick me up here It would definitely be one of the stops.

Oh one cool miracle that we have had recently goes by the name of David. He is from Nigeria and therefore speaks English. We have taught him two times now and He is awesome. He is so believing in God and Christ. I even think he believes in Joseph Smith as a prophet but as he says, with so many people saying so many different things he gets confused sometimes in what to believe. We committed him to pray so he can know for himself what the truth is. It was a very powerful rendez-vous. It is also a lot of fun to teach in English. It's a bit weird actually, but seeing it's my maternal language it's quite a bit easier to explain things. We actually just came from a rendez-vous with him. So much fun. Like I said experiences like that really show me just how glad I am that I am able to serve as a full time missionary.

Well thanks again for everything, good luck with the art mythology project and yes, Amy I know the kid your talking about and yes, that is a pretty dang funny dream.

Love Ya

Elder Ritter

One of the members here plays professional Rugby, so we missionaries and Brother Portwood went and supported him (Penny) for a preperation day activity.

Loving Pau

01/06/10

Hey,

How was your week? The week was great for us here. We are having so much fun here in Pau. I am thinking that I will be leaving pretty dang soon though. The end of the transfer is the 17 of January and I have already been here for over 5 months. Crazy because I feel like I just got here and that I am still blue, or green I guess they call it in the states. I will be sad to leave Pau if that is the case. I have really come to love it and I can get around this ville like it's my home town mostly because it is not too big. I also have made some great friends here. I will also be very excited to see another part of this country though I think it's about time.

So it sounds like you are getting back into the groove of like now that the holidays are over. I wish you all luck and hope that you may have a lot of good times and success.

Well Im pretty much out of news from here..... hmmmm any questions?

Alright I hope you know I love you. Have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon.

Elder Ritter

New Apartment, New View

With the combining of the two Pau companionships, I moved apartments. I think I liked the other apartment better, but I've got to admit, there's a better view at this one.

Hey Family, How is life going? Things are still going well here in Pau. I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss Pau if I'm ever transfered and I'm guessing that it won't be too long until I'm transfered. I still have at least five weeks though, so that's good.

So there are a few things that I want to comment on. First of all, The Gibbons* CD. I have heard one song that was approved and Isabelle had it playing one day when we first arrived at her house, so I have only heard a very little bit, but from what I have heard, yeah it is really good. He is a very talened musician. I'm excited to see what he does with that talent. That's cool that you bought his CD and all. I know that he would appreaciate it. (*Note from editor: Elder Gibbons was Geoff's companion that just finished his mission and is now home. He is a musician and has a CD on iTunes)

Next, Christmas. I will call you from Isabelle's house. She has free calling from her house so at this point in time I will call you from her house. I guess I only have an hour and a half to talk though, so I don't know, I guess that's long enough; but prepare you questions, haha. I'm 8 hours ahead of you, so I'll probably call you evening/ afternoon here, morning there. Hopefully I won't wake Amy up that morning with my call. I know how much she loves sleeping in on Christmas morning, haha. I hope that answers all of your questions. If not we still have one week more to figure it out. Just let me know if I need to be more specific.

So I'm glad you liked the pictures and all from last week. I was pretty excited too (because of the baptism). She is so awesome and right now we are trying to work together, Isabelle and we missionaries, to help Valentine feel the spirit and come to the knowledge that God is there and this is His church on the earth.

Oh and yes, I am loving my comps. It is a lot of fun having two comps; I hope we are not too intimidating with three. Normally though we go on two diffrent sides of the road and that seems to work pretty well. One on one side, two on another. We are having fun together though and are working hard too. Elder Birk's mother is American and he grew up speaking only English in his home and he is one transfer behind me so he speaks good French but he, like me, is still getting it down. And Elder Léman, he is from Belgum but the Flemish speaking side so he didn't speak French until getting here. He feels like he speaks better English than French. But he speaks great French. So yeah, there are no communication problems. Oh and as for what Andrew Hegerhorst said (via his father), I think I am starting to get the language down better and that I am progressing better. I feel like I can at least understand for the most part, but the speaking grammar is still challenging. I am feeling a lot more confidante lately meaning I'm probably going to have a humbling experience come my way soon, haha. It's always good though.

I love you all! I miss you tons! I am super excited to speak with you all on Christmas Day. Thanks again for all you do for me. Once again love you tons! Talk to you soon!
Elder Ritter


Elder Birk, Elder Léman, and I. Don't worry, we killed them all, no more roaches for us.

P.S. I just checked our email from President and it turns out that we have an hour maximum for calls. Bummer, but there are blessins with each rule so either way it will be great. Can't wait to hear you voices.
Elder Ritter

The Best Week of My Life

Hey, thanks again for writing. It is always great to hear from all of you and it sound like things are busy, but good at the same time. I just want to say that this past weekend was the best weekend of my life. It was so amazing! So for you all who asked, YES, Isabelle's baptism went through and she is now a baptised and confirmed member of the Church. The baptism service was awesome. It went so smoothly and the spirit was consistently strong. I also only had to dunk her once and I didn't mess up the words, so that was good. Then, yesterday's Sacrament Meeting was also amazing. President Carter was there because a sister missionary, who served in this mission not a long time ago, was getting married to someone who lives in Pau. So President came down for that. He conducted the Baptism interview for Isabelle and he was also able to be a witness at the baptism. Yesterday, Isabelle was confirmed at Sacrament Meeting and then President and Sister Carter shared their testimonies followed by Isabelle. It was so amazing how strong the spirit was. It was so amazing to see the reward of my efforts. I'm pretty sure though that the reward was much greater than the effort. It was really such an amazing blessing. I'm so blessed! Thank you all, for all you do for me.

So that was last week and just as that ended another transfer began. I dropped off Elder Gibbons at the Gare this morning and then Elder Birk and I went to Bordeaux to pick up our new companion. There were 2 companionships here in Pau but we are cutting down on missionaries in The Toulouse Mission so from now on there will only be 1 companionship in Pau. So for the transition they are keeping one missionary from each side of Pau, Elder Birk and I, and because we are both pretty young we recieved Elder Léman. So I have two companions right now. It is pretty cool actually. I know Elder Birk pretty well by now and Elder Léman seems to be way cool. Oh and a fun fact they are both European. Elder Birk form Denmark who has been out just one transfer less than me and Elder Léman from Belgum who has been out for about a year. I am excited. It should be fun to have a trio going.

So yeah that's what's up with me. All is going well! I am excited to get to work. I will miss Elder Gibbons a lot. We became very good friends. He is way cool and don't be surprized if his group "The Gibbons" gets big. He is very talented. You can check out his stuff on i tunes actually. So yeah all is good here. Hopefully things will continue to go well.

Love Elder Ritter

Oh and by the way Dad there is no time limit to when you go Senior companion. Some go Senior their second transfer. Like Elder Gibbons and others might never go Senior Comp. It mostly depends on The President, the missionary, and Heavenly Fathers will.

Elder Gibbons Heads Home Next Week

So I guess something you all have been dying to hear. Yes I did recieve your email last week and sorry I forgot to respond to the google earth part. I really was super excited when you wrote about that, because you found exactally where I live. Haha pretty much every morning I see that car garage haha (I only don't when we go out the back door). Oh and yeah we live next to that big grave yard. It's pretty cool, I guess. There are some cool head stones and stuff. Our place has the blue hand rail things. I think my actual section though is not the yellow building. It's a pretty nice place, but it is very small so don't worry, it's not like I'm getting too comfortable. No, I love it though. I am really blessed to be living where I am. That's so cool that you found it too. So what do you think of Pau? It is seriously so pretty. I especially think the mountains and the chateaux are pretty sweet too.

So in one week from today this transfer will be over. So crazy. Elder Gibbons will be all packed and ready to meet his parents in Toulouse where he will give them a tour of where he has served and then head back home. It's kinda weird searving with a missionary that will be finishing up in not long at all. I'm going to miss him though. We have had such a fun transfer here in Pau. Before the transfer ends, this Saturday, Isabelle's baptism service will be held. I think the baptism prayer in French is actually, I dont have it memorized yet, but I know that it is found in 3 Né 11, I think verse either 21 20 or 25 hmmm. I should probably get on that hahah.

So I'm thinking that I will be staying in Pau mostly because in my President interview, he pretty much told me I would be. We'll see if it turns out that way though. If so It will be great to continue teaching Isabelle, Valentine and and spending Christmas here in Pau. If so, Isabelle said she has free long distance or what ever and that we can use her phone to call on Christmas. Oh and think Dad about writing a letter on evolution and the gospel for Valentine. That would be awesome if you sent something. If you don't have time or just dont want to, don't worry about it. But I would love for you to send something like that. Basically, what I was thinking is that many people. say specifically Valentine, don't believe in God. They believe in evolution and to have a your testimony would be awesome because you explain so nicely how the two don't really conflict. I hope what I'm saying makes sense. It would also be awesome to have because other missionaries automatically think Darwin is a bad person and you know... Luckly missionaries for the most part have learned to be open minded. So yeah there is some info. S If you have the time or desire to send me you testimony I would love that a lot ( no pressure).

Sounds like you all had a great Thanksgiving. I'm glad to hear. We also had an amazing Thanksgiving. I seriously felt like I was back in America. It was awesome. We missionaries even put on a skit to explain what thankgiving is all about. It was a blast. The ward absolutley loved it. We have done other activites before, but none even compared to this. The food was pretty good too. Not quite as good as being back at home, but pretty dang close. I was impressed. Maybe I can find some pictures to send home I think Sister Portwood took some pictures.

I am doing very well and I hope you all are too. Have a great day and I'll talk to you soon.

Elder Ritter