Ritchie, Max

So many missionaries recently have asked me, "Elder Ritchie, how do you feel now that you are going home?!?!" And I have always responded with the same answer. "Well, I feel happy!!" Which leads me to my last lesson that I have learned on my mission. I know without a doubt that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of happiness, lasting joy, peace, and growth. I have learned that joy doesn't come automatically nor does it come through the calling. But the reason why as a missionary I have felt so much joy is because I have lived, shared, and helped others to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't come just from being a missionary but rather it comes from fulfilling the call to invite others to come unto Christ. First, I have felt the joy of Christ by living the Gospel. This transfer has been the craziest I have had in all of my mission. So I learned that I had to read the Book of Mormon every day even though I was busy with other things. Every single d...

Hey everybody!! Recently I have been inspired by a recent convert because whenever he sees us he always says, "Hermanos, la vida es bella!!" which means, "Brothers, life is beautiful." I couldn't agree more with Bernardo because LA VIDA ES BELLA!! I have been feeling so blessed recently just by trying my best to keep the commandments and to fulfill my objective as a missionary. The 4th lesson that I would like to share with you all is that  Ministering one by one in the way of the Savior will help others to come unto Christ and stay with Him.  This week was so special because I got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders! It is such a blessing to go out with them and see how I can help them in their zones and with their missionaries. We talked about every individual missionary, about the goals of every zone, and how the zone leaders are doing. We always see special miracles too! We have also been working a lot with the members who have not been participating re...

Hey everyone!! I hope everyone is well and that everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Family and friends, life is good! It was a really busy week but I saw so many tender mercies that show me that God is out there cheering us on! All he wants is for His Children to come home to Him. This week the lesson I want to share is  the great truth that  the Spirit testifies of truth, and magnifies our abilities when we strive to do what God has commanded us to do! This week was awesome because we got to travel around the whole mission to all of the Zone Conferences. We talked a lot about the power and authority that we have as missionaries. In every single zone conference it amazed me how much the spirit testifies of the power we have!! And taught us how to gain more of it to teach and bless others in their search for God. It was a very special experience this week to minister and help every single missionary in the mission. Besides that, this week was actually pretty diffe...