The Work Is Moving Along September 28, 2015

My goodness what a week! My personal studies are really awesome. I learn SO MUCH!! It's wonderful! But also we had 17 lessons this week! Ballin'! The Spirit was so strong and working some mighty miracles in our area. It's. Awesome. I love Jesus!

Tuesday we got to see Ray and he is really starting to understand. And he said that he has started to feel better, which is seriously a miracle. We have been praying so hard for him to come to Church. But then we had to go switch cars with the Elders cause, wait for it, we are on bikes. We still have a car obviously cause our area is huge but we are running out of miles so we needed a car with a bike rack on it so we could bike and drive. This new car is such a downgrade! But I'm learning to love it. But let's be honest, Toyota's are better. Haha. Anyway then we went to see David. He makes me sad because he just doesn't have a desire and we can't make him do anything but he isn't doing anything to help himself. I left that house wanting to cry, my heart just hurt so much. But we also met with the Swafford family. They are from Alabama and oh my heavens she is so funny. She is so southern it's not even funny. Just the sweetest lady. She actually gave us a ride today to the library. She says hello. But they just made me so happy. Such a great family.

Wednesday was our first day biking and can I just say, NAILED IT! Of course my skirt got ruined in the process but I have learned what works and what doesn't so it's all good. We had a district meeting and it was awesome. Our District Leader is so awesome. 'Nuff said. We biked from area 5 to area 9 and holy cow that is a long bike ride. And holy hills batman! But I totally nailed it. My legs were like jelly of course but it's all good. We went a knockin' before dinner and we found the most interesting man. His name is Henry. He is writing his own faith apparently, how, I don't know. But we couldn't even hardly tell him anything. He stopped us and got all philosophical and psychological and I was like oh no. He was just like what
questions do  you have for me cause I have thought a lot about life and have looked to nature. I don't even know. It was just weird. But that's not even the best part. When we were leaving he was like do you want to fill up your water cause I just filled up my jug at the fountain of youth... What? I was really nervous to take his water but I was also thirsty so whateves. I'm still alive so I guess it was okay. Wait that isn't even the best part. As we got our stuff he told me to bow my head. I was so confused and thinking there was something he saw in my hair. I bowed my head. He then proceeded to give me and my companion a kiss on the forehead. UM WHAT? That just freaked me out so I was like nice to meet you bye!! I got out of there asap quick! It was so weird. I didn't even know what to do. It gives me chills just thinking about it. But then we had to bike home to get the car and I'm pretty sure I was about to die. Ok, not really but it took us a good hour to get home and get the bikes on the rack. They are so temperamental. Anyway...

Thursday was so awesome! We finally got to do service. And what did we do? Yard work. I felt like I was back on grounds crew for the temple. We went with the Elders and we had a choice between wrapping trees or blowing the sidewalks. I chose blowing, obviously. Sorry Elders. I think they were a little upset with that but whateves. I rocked that blower. I got so sunburned though. It was so funny. It was seriously just like being back at grounds. My companion did not like the blowing, however. Next time she said we are wrapping trees... But it was so much fun. I loved it. It's weird saying that but it was great fun for me. For dinner we had corn beef and cabbage... not a fan. But I just had to grin and bear it. The dessert was great so its all good. That night we had seriously one of the best lessons ever with Paul. His daughter is so adorable. I just love her. But we talked about the Holy Ghost and it was so strong during that lesson. I could just see the Spirit help him understand what we were talking about. It was so good. I just love this Gospel.

Friday nothing too fun happened. We finally got a second appointment with an investigator. I'm not sure she is too interested but I'm not giving up just yet on her. 

But then we had exchanges on Saturday. And since the only other Sisters in our zone are Spanish, I got to go be Spanish for a day. Happy Beth?! :) That was rather interesting. But I learned so much from Hermana Mortensen. She is awesome. Faith is so important in this work. We talked to some cool people. And by we, I mean Hermana Mortensen, cause I didn't understand anything. I could understand her but when they would speak I would be lost. I could follow mostly what was going on though. It was great fun. And I had some interesting food.

Hermana Mortensen

My tummy did not like that. But it was awesome. The Spirit is the same. Then we went to the Women's Conference and holy cow that was awesome. I just learned so much from every single talk. And Utchdorf is a beast. That talk was just what I needed that day. Man so awesome! Then we had a quick little lesson and it was actually in English about the priesthood. And it was actually really powerful. Man this is good stuff. I am so excited to watch General Conference. It's gonna be awesome!!! I would like to invite you to take a question to conference! He will answer you!

Sunday. RAY CAME TO CHURCH!!! I was so beyond excited I just wanted to scream for joy. The Lord really answered our prayers that day. It was so amazing. We are so excited for him. And he loved it. That is about all I want to say about that day. Except we also had a really powerful lesson with a member about the Atonement. I just love it. Don't let it go to waste. 

Anyway, I love this gospel and I am so grateful that I get to learn so much from it. 

Thanks for the stories. Its really interesting reading old journal entries. I loved it.   

Jeff, Adventure Time is of the devil...

Dad I never got letter #6. Its in limbo. Just FYI. I will probably get it in a month. But thanks for the letters. They are awesome. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy conference. I love you and so does Heavenly Father!

Keep the faith!

Love Sister Richards  

oh ps how is the reading coming along? :)

Miricles are Everywhere and God is Real September 21, 2015

Sister Dennis and Sister Richards

This week was so awesome! We found two new investigators and taught 13 lessons this week. We were only teaching an average of 7 lessons last transfer. Also, I'm pretty sure we have knocked on every single door in our area. So that is freaking awesome. Sister Dennis the menace and I are working hard but the Spirit is working harder. It has been really awesome to see all the miracles that have happened this week, and I feel it will only go up from here. Also, we have a friend on date for baptism. Yay! But he didn't come to Church so that's sad but I have faith. 

Tuesday was awesome. We taught 5 lessons. That has never happened for me. I was shocked but so grateful. It was awesome. We also found Liz, a new investigator. She will have to be handed over to the YSA but she was so nice. Tuesday was just awesome. 

Wednesday we got to go to the Temple. That was so good. I just was so happy in the temple. And we took pictures this time but they are terrible. I will still send them. We are also not going to be able to go to the Temple every month anymore. They are just going to do it quarterly. Elder Zwick said we need to do work for the living not the dead so that is  kind of sad but it's kind of true. Anyway the rest of the day was really hard. We couldn't get anyone to talk to us. So that was rough. 

But Thursday was better. We had a zone meeting and the zone is huge now. Our mission has 9 new areas opened and they are all on bike. Also there are only two sets of sisters in our zone. Me and my companion and then the Sister Training leaders. They are awesome by the way. So we had some really good training's from the zone so that was awesome. And we had lunch with our Sister Training Leaders

Hermana Tchan (next to me)

Hermana Mortensen (blonde)

and they just really got me pumped for this transfer. I think its going to be a good one. Hermana Mortensen and Hermana Tchan are the Sister Training Leaders over us and we just have a grand old time. They are just so cool. They show so much love and really help me stay grounded. It's awesome. They are great examples to me.

Friday was pretty good. We found a member who's records haven't transferred over yet so that was cool. Except he doesn't really want his records transferred. Awkward. But we were just trying to visit a member and found him about to work on his yard and started talking to him. It was funny when he was like, "Yeah, I'm a member". We were like, "what?!" But we are hopefully going to see him again so we will see what happens there. 

Saturday was rough. And it was rough because we forgot to plan the night before. How we did that, I don't know. But it was a great learning experience. Might I remind you that my companion and I have only been out for 2 months so we are still learning. Crazy. Tomorrow is my two month mark. But we did get to have breakfast at the Stake Presidents house so that was fun. We had a grand old time with them as well.

Sunday made really think about families. They talked a lot about Family History and how important families are. And that just made me think about how much I love my family. But also I just want to invite you as a family to read scriptures together and pray together every day, if possible (I know you are all busy). I have seen the blessings and importance of that in my life and I would just hope that you continue to do so. And I will ask you about it next week. Also it would be cool to have some fun stories about the family from back in the day... No pressure though. :)

But that's all for now. Sorry it's so short.

Anyway I love you all so much and I love this Gospel. I have seen the Lord's hand in my life so much in just these two months its amazing. I hope you are all well. 

Much love,

Sister Richards

PS-Man I am going to miss doing a puzzle during Conference. I miss doing puzzles in general. But Stella loves doing puzzles so every time we visit with her we work on it with her a little bit. It's awesome. So I think we get to go to a members house to watch conference but I'm not sure. And I'm kind of sad that I

wont be able to write in all my colors too. Guess its just black ink for now. But I'm excited for conference. There are so many changes.

Transfers are Wonderful September 14, 2015

THOR

I think this dog looks like an Ewok and it made me so happy. His name is Thor. Hahaha

So an update about transfers. Oh is this a funny story. So I am staying in my area and that is kind of stressful cause that means since I have been here, I really need to know the area. Scary. But the funny part is my new companion. Her name is Sister Dennis. And she is training me. But I am also training her. Yeah, we are follow-up training each other. Yeah Sister Dennis came out the same day I did. What on earth is President thinking? But I am really excited about it. I think this will be good.  So yeah.

But the last week was really good for us. We actually hit our goal of lessons. Not that we had a lot but it keeps getting better each week so I have hope for the future. Now I just need to get past the awkward first stages of the "getting to know you". But it'll be great. 

So I don't have my planner to help me remember things so I am just going to ramble. Our old friend Ray wants to be baptized so that is super exciting. He just needs to come to Church. Hopefully he makes it. He is so old. It kind of makes me sad. So we are super excited about that. 

Wednesday we went on exchanges and that was like the best day of my life. I could feel the Spirit so strong all day and it was truly amazing. I went with Sister Tracy to her area. She also came out with me

Sister Tracy

but she is seriously the best missionary ever. I wish I could be even half as awesome as her. So we just had an amazing day together. We worked hard, felt the Spirit, and opened our mouths. So many blessings. She is so funny too. We had a good talk about Provo cause she was there for a year before she left. That was fun. We went to dinner at Chipotle, yum, and then wanted ice cream. So we walked across the street to this Froyo place and the coolest thing happened. As I was checking out, the cashier was like, do I know you? I was like, I have never been in this place before. But then I continued to talk to her and she asked questions and then I was just like, do you wanna know more? So I got her name and number. So cool!! I don't even know what happened. I would never do something like that. That was all the Spirit. It was seriously so cool. Then we went to meet with a less active but we got there early so we went to the park across the street. This time Sister Tracy opened her mouth and got another potential. So cool. But the lesson with the less active was amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I just felt so much love for this man. And Sister Tracy told me today that he finally came to church yesterday!! God is real!!! So awesome. Man I can't even explain how awesome that day was and how much I learned! God is real!

Thursday I had my training and it went pretty well. It wasn't a complete fail. But honestly I learned so much while preparing for it so if no one in my district got anything, I did, so whateves. But I seriously love my district. I am going to miss them. But I still have Elder Bird as my district leader so that's awesome.

From left to right: Elder Bird (DL), Elder Bluhm, Elder T, Elder Porter

They are awesome!!!

But I hope I get the package. Our mail is so dumb. I just got a letter that was sent a month ago from a friend. I knew I had mail in limbo. But oh well. I am grateful that you would send me something. I can't believe I am turning 23. I feel so old. WHAT?! I can't wait. Also that means General Conference. Can't wait for that either.

I will have to think about the Christmas thing and get back to you.

Leia and the butter. SO FUNNY. That dog...

Hopefully Moo doesn't get sick again

But that's about all I have to write about. Plus I am running out of time and need to write President. I will send you some pictures. 

Much love, Sister Richards

Last Picture with Sister Neatherton

Tender Mercies Galore September 8, 2015

Well this week was a really hard one for me personally. But that means that it was also very humbling. And with that I could see so many blessings and tender mercies this week.

But sorry I couldn't email yesterday. It was Labor day so the library was closed. Also next week is transfers so I may or may not be able to write again till Tuesday. It just really depends. So just FYI.

Looking back on the week I really can only see the good times. I don't even know why it was such a hard week for me. I was just so blessed.

Tuesday we saw Ray. He told us a really funny story about how he was constipated. I will spare you the gory details but it had me and Sister Netherton laughing so hard. He is just such a funny guy!! Later that day we went to go see Chris and Stella. They are just wonderful. It just makes me happy visiting with them. 

Wednesday was even better. We had the best district meeting training ever. It was seriously just meant for me. Elder Bird related the Plan of Salvation to us on a mission. It was just perfectly awesome. And Elder Bluhm also gave a training on being committed to this mission. Both of them just opened my eyes. We met with this old lady, Sister Sturgell, and she just made my day. She just opened my eyes with her wonderful old lady wisdom. And she would say everything was cute. Even me being 7 of 10 and the youngest girl. She just thought that was so cute. Haha. Love it. Then we had dinner with the West family and they just remind me of our family. It is a crazy house there with all the kids. But Brother West is the man. He is so helpful when it comes to missionary work that it just makes me love being a missionary even more. He also had wise words that gave me comfort. But we took him with us to go visit with the Stanton's. I don't remember what I told you about them but he is a member and his wife belongs to the reformed LDS church. We just had a conversation about the Book of Mormon and how we can know it's true and how we can feel the Spirit. I didn't say much, or anything, but I still learned from it. I love meeting with the Stanton's. Also we saw THE MOST BEAUTIFUL sunset that day. I will send you a picture. It was seriously breath taking. 

Thursday we had interviews with the President and his wife. That just made me feel loads better. About what I am doing here, this area, and my companion. Just everything. And he gave me a blessing that was just the cherry on top. Sister Mendenhall is also very awesome. I seriously have the best Mission President ever. Just wonderful. The rest of the day was a downer cause people just didn't want to talk to us. But it rained and of course there was a rainbow. This rainbow was a tender mercy for me. It was the most beautiful rainbow. It was so vibrant and it was a full rainbow. I have never been able to see the other end of a rainbow from one spot before. It was wonderful! So cool. Dad you would have loved it!

Friday was awesome. We met with some ward missionaries, the Joseph's, and they are just willing to help and so cool. Their kids write music so they gave us the CD. Too bad I am going to have to wait until I get home to listen to them. The band is called Playing the Saint, if you wanted to check it out, cause I can't. Haha. But miracle, we talked to 3 former investigators that said we could come back!!! We are so excited. God works in mysterious ways.

Saturdays are always so long. We were literally finding all day!! But we did talk to some less actives that said we could come back so that's cool. One of my favorite things that was said to us that day, after we asked if we could chat with them was, "well its Saturday so... no". Awesome dude.

Sunday was good. I learned a lot from Gospel Principles class. We talked about developing our talents. The best part was that it was just me, Sister Netherton, and two ward missionaries. Labor day weekend. No one was in class. But it was a good discussion.

Yesterday was Zone p-day. So all the Elders and Sisters in the Brighton zone got together and had a BBQ. So much fun!!! We had to wait forever for the zone leaders to get there with the food so we just played some games. We started to play tennis baseball and it was fun. But right when we started playing it started pouring down rain. But we continued to play. It was hard to play because the ball is so small, but yeah I got really wet. Funny story. So the Elder Lee, who is very small, was cooking the burgers and stuff but the grill was not covered, so another Elder, who is very large, was protecting Elder Lee and the food from the rain. I got a picture of it. But the funny part is when one of the Elders was like, the food is being baptized by water and fire. Get it? It was funny. Reading it now, it doesn't sound as funny. Guess you had to be there. But then we played ultimate Frisbee. That was awesome. There was this one time when I really wanted to catch it. I was so determined and focused on the Frisbee. I was not going to let it fall to the ground. What I didn't realize was that my companion, who was on my team, was doing the same thing and BAM, we totally crashed into each other. It was a hard hit too. I dived for it and we just collided and next thing I knew, I was getting all up close and personal with mother earth. I was just laughing there on the ground for awhile. It was so funny and rather awesome, I thought. She caught it too! Win. Today I am very sore from it. My whole left side is just sore and Sister Netherton's right side is sore. So funny. Then we played another game of tennis Frisbee and this time it was not raining. So that was fun. But when I got home and took my shoes off, my feet were blue from my shoes going through the color run. There is still color in them I guess, but the blue wouldn't come off my feet. So I went the rest of the day with blue feet. It was rather funny. But man was I exhausted from that. It was such a good day though. Best p-day yet!! 

Oh and I was asked to give a training during our district meeting this Thursday so that's going to stress me out. The night Elder Bird asked me to give a training I could not sleep at all. I was just thinking about it so much that I didn't get to bed till 12:30! No bueno. But I know it will be fine. I already have lots of ideas and God will help me out so its good.

But yeah that was my week. God is real. I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. It just gets better and better.        

Thanks for getting the music thing worked out for me. You are a life saver. I think the Disney thing is dumb too. I love Disney and it makes me so happy. It totally invites the spirit, for me anyway. But oh well. Rules are rules. 

I heard about the online tithing thing. That's super convenient! 

I hope the roof thing works out!! 

I miss your macaroni salad!!! Send me some!!! Haha just kidding!!

Tell Jeff I said happy birthday!! I know its late but I got so distracted last week that I totally spaced. But I can't believe he is 21. That makes me feel old. But glad to hear about the update.

But I totally wanted to see that movie!! Missed it by that much... Plus, I mean superman is in it so how bad could it be right? Haha

And that picture is so cute!! Kevin looks so old now and they are all just so adorable. 

Anyway, I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and support. Much appreciated!

Love, Sister Richards

This week has been awesome! August 31, 2015

This week has been awesome!

Tuesday we didn't do much because Sister Netherton wasn't feeling well. So I just read a bunch of really awesome talks, mainly by Elder Bednar. But we did meet with Ray. We invited him to Church and he was SO EXCITED!!! He is so awesome! He just loves God and loves going to Church. Sadly he didn't make it because he was sleeping when we went to pick him up. He is a very old man so we let him sleep... this time, Haha. But I think he has a lot of potential so we shall see. We had dinner with the Mains and they are so cool. They are an older couple and he has stomach cancer. But he is so cool.  He is a cartoonist and he has this cartoon about his cancer. But here is the best part. He meshes together Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galatica. So awesome. Dad you have to check out his blog. He showed us some of his cartoons and they are awesome. And everyone is "ratatized" as he calls it. Check it out: northparkcritters.blogspot.com. So cool.

Wednesday was the best day ever!!! Sister Netherton still wasn't feeling well so we stayed in again but only till noon.  I finished all the talks in my binder... so that's fun. But once we got out, man what a day. We had a blitz in our area,which just means that all the Elders in our district came to our area to help us find people. So we all tracked for a straight hour in different parts of our area. I was so pumped and excited. I didn't even care that it was like 1000 degrees outside. Okay obviously I'm exaggerating. But it was definitely hot. But we found three new potential investigators from it so that was awesome. We went back to two and they were not interested. But we will try again later. After that, can you guess it, we went finding, which meant knocking on lots of doors... again. But something really awesome came from it so it was all worth it. WE FOUND A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!! Can you believe it? Cause we left shocked and amazed. God is real!! So we were trying to find less-actives and this one had moved so we just thought we would talk to the new tenant. Her name is Elizabeth and she is awesome. We asked if we could just share a five minute message with her and she just sat there for a while but then finally said yes. So of course Sister Netherton just hands me the Restoration pamphlet. I didn't know what to say so I just simply bore my testimony about the Restoration and the love of God and let me just tell you, it was so amazing. The Spirit was so strong there with her and I could tell that she knew that what we were talking about was new and good. So we invited her to Church and she said she would love to...and she asked us if we had anything for her to read. How cool is that? Um heck yes we did. So I gave her a Book of Mormon with a chapter marked and the Restoration pamphlet. She told us that we came at the right time and that she was looking for something different. She was tired of her church saying the same thing every time she went to church. Ah it was so cool. And we left like, did that really just happen? So we are seeing her this week again and we are so excited. But something that I have noticed is every time I go to testify of something, I never really remember what I say. That just testifies to me that the Spirit really is the true teacher and that if I just open my mouth with faith, words will come. It was seriously so amazing. But the day just got better. We had dinner with a wonderfully sweet family and the meal was something that reminded me of something you make. It was so good. But then we had two lessons after that. One with a less-active and one with a part member family. The less-active is Scott and he is such a soft- spoken person and is really gentle and nice. I really felt a strong connection to him for some reason. I just really want him to come back to Church. I think the connection I feel is God's love for him. I really hope he comes back to Church. But we are going to work with him. The conversation was a very interesting one because it was mainly taken over by his wife, who belongs to the reformed LDS church. That was just really interesting to hear about. And if anything, it just strengthened my testimony about this Gospel. So that was cool. I can't wait to see them again. The part member family had been taught a year ago but stopped so we just re-taught the first lesson. That was really good too. I got to actually teach part of it so that's good. I could definitely feel the Spirit all that day....and we taught four lessons! That never happens!! God is so real!! So many miracles happened and we were so blessed that day. Ah it was wonderful. But the best part about it, was I came home EXHAUSTED! We really worked hard that day and it was great and I loved it! 

Thursday was even better!!! But for different reasons. Elder Zwick from the Seventy came to our mission and gave us training... all day. I got to personally meet one of the Quorum of the Seventy! What?! He is so cool. He just speaks so powerfully and it was just pure awesomeness. But during one of our training's, we did some role plays. I hate role plays. So there were four different zones at the meeting and he picked a companionship from each zone to do this role play. We were to teach a principle simply and apply it to something that happened to us recently and then share a scripture that applied and just simply testify. And what do you know, my companion and I were chosen to represent our zone. I just knew it. I was so scared. But I think we did awesome. I shared the story about Elizabeth and we talked about the Holy Ghost working in her heart. I can't remember the scripture but it was really good. It was in 1 or 2 Nephi.  (She remembered later. It was 2 Nephi 33:1 And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.) But then we got critiqued after and he gave us really good feedback. And the rest of the zones did too. So it was really awesome. I learned a lot. But we just had training from him and his wife, who is also awesome, and President and Sister Mendenhall. It was just a really awesome day. I learned so much from it and I am really trying to apply it to my life and make the changes I need to be a better instrument in the hands of the Lord. At the end of the meeting Elder Zwick came up to me and told me that I did a really good job in the role play. That just made me feel so much better about how I'm doing. I am no where near perfect but I realized then that I am doing better than I think I am. It was just so cool. I sadly did not get a picture with him like I wanted to but that's okay. Such a good day!!

Friday and Saturday were not that great sadly. We have literally zero miles left on our car so we had to do a lot of walking. Which is fine with me except now I have a really awesome tan line on my feet from my shoes. Also my hair is getting blonder again. Not happy bob. But it is also stressful on us cause we can't really walk to any of our areas cause they are so far apart. But we just have to last till tomorrow. But something really cool did happen on one of those days. We got a call from an investigator that the sisters before were teaching but we couldn't get a hold of her. But she called and asked if we could find a ride for her. Heck yes we could. She is just the sweetest little southern lady every. She calls us angel. That was awesome! 

Sadly no one came to church on Sunday but I still have hope for the future.

In other news, mom and dad can I just say thanks for teaching me to be independent and how to live on my own!! Huge blessing! That is all I'm going to say about that! 

So sorry moo pooped on your bed. I keep wanting to call the cat we live with moo when I get annoyed with him trying to eat my hair!! Haha 

Oh and I loved the pictures from Scott and Lori's wedding!! So beautiful! Love it!

Also mom. They have the gummy bears here!!!!! We get them all the time and they are gone within a couple days. But Sister Netherton always eats all the good ones first! So I'm left with the not so good ones. Oh well.

Also dad. I got letter #4 Friday the 28th. But the mail is being super dumb. I'm pretty sure I have a letter in mail limbo. So that is fun. But I don't really know what is going on with the mail. So dumb. 

Mom thanks for the update on Stubbs. I still have hope for him. And Brian going to Poland. Awesome!!! That's so cool! And thanks again for Brian and Luke's emails. I love reading them. 

Um I think that is about it! Thanks!

Well I love you and miss you lots!!! I hope you are all well. 

Love, Sister Richards