Ricky has finally left the MTC in Guatemala to begin his mission in El Salvador. He left yesterday, October 10, 2011, and arrived safely at the mission home. Today we received an email from his mission president along with a picture of him. Unfortunately I was not able to post the picture due to the format that was used in sending it. But hopefully we can get one up here soon. Here is the letter from the mission president...

Dear Nope Family,

     We are happy to announce that your son, Elder Nope, has safely arrived to our mission. The night of his arrival, we enjoyed getting to know him in a dinner at the mission home, and we can tell that he is a great missionary. We are grateful for his sacrifices and your sacrifices to allow him to be here. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will pour out his blessings upon your family. We are very happy to have your son with us and we know he will bless the lives of many people here in the great country of El Salvador. He has been assigned to the Las Arada area in the Modelo Stake. His companion is Elder Yzaguirre from Texas. Elder Yzaguirre has 15 months in the mission, and has proved to be an excellent missionary. He is a determined, hard-working Elder who is diligent in the Lord's work. Before training your son, he has served as a District Leader and senior companion. We expect to see many miracle from this companionship.

New Address

Here is Ricky's new address at the Guatemala MTC. They ask that you DO NOT put "Elder" in front of his name when sending a package or letter, cause this makes it a target and may be opened or stolen...

Richard Nope
23 ave 23-71 Vista Hermos 1
zona 15
Guatemala, Guatemala

Email:
richard.nope@myldsmail.net

Welcome To Guatemala

Since starting his mission, Ricky has been at the MTC in Provo, Ut. Well, this week, Ricky and all of the other El Salvador missionaries have been transferred to the Guatemalan MTC. Apparently this is the MTC they all should have gone too originally, but it was too full at the time they were supposed to enter, so now that there is room for them they have now gone over there. Here is a letter Mom and Dad got from Rick when he got there...

Well we made it to Guatemala City just fine. I got about 1 and a half hours of sleep tops.. I've been pretty exhuasted today. They gave us a chance to put our stuff away and rest for a little bit. So I slept for about an hour and a half there as well. This place is crazy! When we were flying in I looked out the window of the plane, I could see about 4 or 5 different peaks in the mountain, it had a basin type set up and it was a massive lake! It was so cool, so I pulled out my camera and naturally as soon as I turn it on it dies. No picture. Literally 2 seconds later we see some volcanoes, and yes one is smoking, kind of interesting. The weather is so nice here today, its their cold/rainy season so the temperature is very mild and it has been raining for the past little while. The MTC here is tiny! I believe the Mission President said there are a total of 78 of us here right now. Its one building with pretty high fences around it except for the front gate. The temple is two buildings over from us and we are able to get a pretty cool view of it in the staircase. I'm no longer with anyone in my original district but with how small it is here I'll still see them quite a bit. My new companion is Elder Brent Hales, he was actually in my mission prep class up at Utah State. He is going to Guatemala Quetzaltenango mission which is a little bit northwest of here if I remember correctly. So far the food here at the MTC is pretty darn good. It seems to be actual real food unlike that crap they gave us in Provo half the time. This place is just crazy though, its amazing we didn't get in a wreck about 4 times on the bus ride from the airport to the MTC. The buses here in Guatemala are all basically school buses but everyone customizes them with different paint jobs and we're pretty sure the cooler your bus is the cooler you are. We passed one bus on the way here that was so packed full of people that people were literally just hanging out the doors while the bus was driving at full speed. No thanks I'll walk. We passed a security truck thing that might have been some sort of government security, I'm not really sure, but I looked in the backseat and what did I see? You guessed it, a couple dudes holding machine guns. Not everyday you see that back home. We haven't had the chance to see much since we've only been here for about 12 hours but as we flew in, it was absolutely beautiful. I love how green it is here. It was funny when we got on the plane last night cause we just all kind of looked around like "Holy Crap... We're literally the only ones here who don't really speak spanish." I'm still getting used to being taller than alot of people. We were just told one more minute for us to write. But I made it safe and sound, and I love ya'll. Sorry I didn't have my address with me in the computer lab so I'll get it to ya'll next time which will be Wednesday. I love y'all.

Ricky



Package for Uncle Ricky

Blake drew this picture for Uncle Ricky.

(Blake and Uncle Ricky playing catch.)

Ashlyn drew this picture for Uncle Ricky.

(Ricky sliding down a slide.)

Uncle Ricky's stash.

Ricky enters the MTC

The night before Ricky was to report to the MTC, he had his setting apart. He had a few friends come over for it, and they all stayed for a "one last" gumbo dinner before he had to leave for his mission. Here are some pictures from the get together...

Ricky, the night of his setting apart.

Ricky with friend Chelsea

Scott, Chelsea, Ricky, Sean, and Aubrea

Scott and Ricky

Aubrea, Ricky, and Sean

Mom, Ricky, and Dad

The next day was the BIG DAY!

It was a pretty tearful day for the Nope family... time to drop Rick off at the MTC...

They litterally had to drop Rick off at the curb!

Ricky was greeted by his host, Elder Jensen

Well, its official, Ricky is now a missionary!!

MTC Address

If you want to write to Ricky while in the MTC, here is his address:

Elder Richard Mark Nope
MTC Mailbox #256
ELS-SANW 1011
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

I'm sure he'd love to hear from you, so send him a letter, or better yet, a case of Dr. Pepper!

Farewell Ricky!

Ricky had his farewell on Sunday, July 31, 2011.

He spoke in sacrament meeting along with his dad. Afterwards everyone went back to the house and had a luncheon. The house was packed! He had tons of friends and family there to wish him goodluck and say their goodbyes.

 Here are a few pictures taken from the weekend...

Ricky with friends

Ricky with friend.

 Ricky with more friends.

More friends.

 Ricky with nephews, Damon and Blake, and niece Ashlyn.

 Ricky with nephew, Damon

All of Ricky's nieces and nephews.

(From left: Caleb, Jaedyn, Caitlyn, Blake, Baylee, Ashlyn, Joslyn, Sadie, and Damon)

Rick's entire family.

(Backrow: Brother-in-laws Terry and Glenn, Ricky, Brother-in-law Daniel. Middle row: Sister Aubrey, niece Ashlyn, sister Jenna, Dad, nephew Damon, Mom, nephew Caleb, sister Aja. Bottom row: nieces Baylee, Sadie, Caitlyn, Joslyn, Jaedyn, and nephew Blake.)