Well this week has been better but it has also been harder.
Tuesday
was awesome though. So many miracles. We have been trying to have more
effective planning and it really paid off for Tuesday. We were just
trying to find less actives and every door that we went to, someone else
was there so we just talked to them. They were all super nice actually
listened to us.Then we went to go see this really old man, Ray, and it
turns out that his sister and her son were there helping him out so we
just taught all of them. It was really cool. The spirit was strong. It
was a really interesting situation though. So we basically were just
teaching Ray's sister cause Ray can't hear anything. We taught the
Plan of Salvation and I think she really enjoyed it. Her son was there
too but he wasn't really participating. So at the end of the lesson we
asked if she would take a Book of Mormon and read it. She said she
didn't have time and we should give it to someone else. So then I asked
her son, Andrew, what he had heard about the church. He said that it was
strict and people were rich. That made me laugh. But then I asked him
if he wanted to read the Book of Mormon and he was a little iffy about
it. So we just left the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets with our number
on the table and they could take it if they wanted to. Andrew took them
all, I noticed, and was looking through them so I was pretty excited
for him. So we left and got in the car to go somewhere and the phone
rang, and it was Andrew!!!! He wanted to know what chapter from the Book
of Mormon we wanted him to read. WHAT?!?!! We were both so taken aback
that we didn't know what to say. So we just gave him Alma 32 and told
him to text us what he thought about it. We tried texting him on Sat.
and the number didn't work so that was sad. But it was still so
awesome. I had no idea how much he was paying attention and if I
wouldn't have followed the prompting to ask him at the end, who knows
what would have happened. AHHH we were so excited. I had to say a prayer
of thanks immediately. Such a blessing. Then we went finding again and
the same thing happened as before. So many different people were put
into our path that we were not planning on but it was wonderful. Then we
went to a members house, the Penningtons, to help them paint their
house and have dinner and a lesson. The dinner was great. It's actually
amazing all the different meals that I have had here. So much variety
and so good. The lesson was so good too. The Spirit was strong and the
discussion was great. And I learned something so that's a plus. We
talked about the scripture in Mosiah 4:19
where it talks about how we are all beggars. We talked about Elder
Holland's talk that he gave on it. It just was a really great lesson.
Then we went to go see Chris and Stella. They are the best. They are
recent converts and Stella is Chris' mom and she is just so funny. We
love visiting with them. I feel like I can be myself and that makes me
more open to talk so it's great.
Wednesday we got to go to the Temple. It was great, except we had to wake up at 4 to get to the 7 AM session. Of course that didn't happen cause we didn't wake up to our alarms. We hurried as fast as we could to get to the 7:30
session. It was great. The Denver Temple is so small though. I felt a
little claustrophobic. Sweet little Sister Gilson was so kind to take us so we could save on miles. She is the best. After that we
had a district meeting. I love my district. Elder Bird is our district
leader and so we call our district "The Birdcage". Hahahaha we thought
it was pretty clever. But the meeting was great. We talked about
patience in finding and it was just really good. The other Elders in my
district are Elder Bluhm, Elder Porter, and Elder T.--don't even ask me
to spell Elder T's name. But he is actually from Long Beach so I though
that was pretty funny. We used to have Elder Pincock but he left because
an emergency transfer. Sad. But they are all great. So after the
meeting we were supposed to see Sean but he cancelled on us--three times
this week and he didn't come to Church so that's disappointing. No
longer progressing. Sad. But we had dinner with the Gilsons again so
that was fun. We just spent all day with Sister Gilson. It was like a
girls day out. Hahaha not that I don't have a companion with me 24/7.
Hahaha but it was great. Oh but we went to go talk to this less active
and her door was open and we could hear them all talking so we rang the
doorbell and then it got quiet. And someone was like, who is at the
door, and she shushed them. So we rang the bell again and silence.
Salty. We left laughing actually. So funny.
Thursday
was a long day. We went to go paint Sister Penningtons house again and
then we went to go help this non-member family pack up their house cause
they had to move the next day. So that was actually fun. And very
tiring. All the Elders from our district came too. I think they were
very grateful for our help. And Sister Netherton got to mow her first
lawn, under my direction of course. And it was the smallest lawn in the
world but it made her happy. Hahaha. But we were so exhausted after
that. But we had dinner and a lesson at the Bishop's house and that was
super intimidating. I don't know why I was scared to teach in front of
the Bishop but it was good. Also they had these things for dinner called
chicken pillows. So good. Its like chicken pieces with cream cheese
heaven breaded and delicious. YUM. But then we went on a mini-exchange
again. It was really good. I got to actually
drive since Sister Tracy was coming to my area. It was fun. She is
awesome. And just so cool and spiritual... But the exchange was only for
the night. We exchanged back on Friday morning.
Sister Netherton had a doctor's appointment so we were there
forever. But we came home and finally did
weekly planning. That took a long time. We had a lot to talk about and
it was good. But it took a long time. And then we didn't have a dinner
but the awesome ward mission leader brought us a pizza. My favorite. We had a little group therapy session with the Sister Training
Leader. We got it all out on the table to try and get a fresh new start.
It was good. And I'm excited to hopefully work better together with
Sister Netherton.
Saturday
was my month mark. How has it already been a month. Like what?! But we
had this little Sisters lunch with all the Sisters in our zone. It was
so fun. So then we of course went finding for days. The first half of
the day was terrible. We had zero luck. But then we had an hour of
training to do. So we went home so frustrated but when we went back out
to find, again, it was so much better. We didn't get to teach or
anything but we talked to a lot of less actives that said we could come
back. YAY!!! God is real. And then we had dinner with Chris and Stella
and it was steak and potatoes aka DELICIOUS. It was great. After dinner
we got to talk to a lot of people again. Oh and a little tender mercy.
When we went to go finding after our training, our jam song came on and
it was just so great. The song talks about how we need God and we can't
do this on our own. It was so perfect.
Sunday...
That had to have been one of the worst days ever. Church was great and
everything. But then after lunch everything just went downhill. We had
dinner with a less active family and it was just really hard for me.
They don't think that swearing is a bad thing... so that was
interesting. But the thing that really bothered me was that we stayed
way too late. We are only supposed to stay an hour at homes and we were
there way past that. And because of that we missed a teaching
appointment with another less active. I tried to get us out but it just
didn't happen. I left that house feeling so terrible. It just didn't sit
right with me. And I told Sister Netherton that I can't ever do that
again. Ergo we ended up having a breakdown. It was really hard for me I
can't even really explain it. And then we missed another appointment
because of it. We were useless for the rest of the night,so we went home
crying. I let Sister Netherton alone and just read my scriptures. And I
just was instantly comforted. Yeah we messed up but we will just have
to do better. It was and interesting experience but I don't want to
leave. I'm seeing this thing through no matter how hard it gets. I have
come to such a greater understanding of the gospel already that it
boggles my mind. We are all brothers and sisters and we all need saving.
There is not much else to say about what happened. Just that I came out
of it with different eyes and a stronger relationship with Christ. I
can't even begin to tell you how much I love this gospel. It is so
wonderful. There are no words.
But that's about all for this week.
I have been missing you a lot this week but it's okay. I love you. Thanks for all you do!
Stay sweet!
Sister Richards
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