New Baby Pool.....January 25, 2016

Well hello,

This week was a very long one and rather stressful. But that is life. And honestly, it is a miracle we saw as many people as we did. God is good. 

Wednesday we had a mission wide training and it was awesome. We learned a lot about having better teaching skills and really letting the Spirit work and be the teacher. Cause he is. I was reading in 3 Nephi 10-11 today and it just talked a little about how the Holy Ghost will bear record of Jesus Christ and it is so true. We didn't really get to talk to anyone that day because of transfers and what not. I love my new area. There are so many beautiful houses and trees, it just reminds me of home. It's great. And my new companion, Sister Hudson, is great. She is from Texas and came out a transfer before me. This transfer going to be great. The only thing that stinks is that we get lost almost 24/7--Cause there are new parts that are not in our GPS maps. It creates lots of adventures for us...

Thursday we had District Meeting. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. It was really good. And the Book of Mormon has so many answers for us it's ridiculous. We got lost so bad that day. We were like 45 minutes late to our dinner and boy was that an adventure. But they are the coolest young couple. They were super sweet and totally okay with it. Also she made the best home made rice I have ever had. Yum.

Friday, I thought I was going to die. We were walking for 2 straight hours getting lost in the cold and I forgot my coat. I was frozen to the core when we got back to the car. It took a good while to get thawed out from that. But we got to see a less active member and she is just a cute little old lady. And I met probably the best family ever in this ward. They are just so cute and love to help us out. I want to be like them someday.

Saturday was crazy awesome! We got to see so many people. And the weather was beautiful. It was such a good day. We got to see lots of miracles. I have noticed that there is a theme in every ward I have served in. It's rather interesting. But this ward is nice. We found a new investigator, Anisha and her dad. It was really cool teaching them the Restoration cause they kept saying that everything just made sense. It was super cool. We also got to visit another investigator, Gerald. I don't know how solid he is but he came to Church on Sunday so that is pretty awesome! 

Our Church building is really interesting. In the chapel there is a mural painted of Christ teaching people. It was very interesting. I felt like I was in the South for some reason. It was cool.

I don't really have much else to talk about. I probably won't be able to send pictures until I get an adapter thing to hook my camera to the computer since it doesn't have a slot like my last areas. So sorry if you don't get any pictures. 

Anyway I'm excited for Ben to get baptized! I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thanks for all the love. 

God is good. This gospel is great!!

Much love, 

Sister Richards

Ending on a high note!! (No pun intended).....January 19, 2016

Well I am glad that your talk is over and that you are no longer having scary dreams! Also I loved the pictures from the Temple. I miss going there so often!

My time is short but I will do my best to tell you about how amazing this week was. 

We basically found a new investigator every day. The week started off a little rough but then by Wednesday, I kicked myself in the butt and it was great. Wednesday we had district meeting and it was really awesome. We talked about following the Spirit and did some really great role plays. Awesome stuff here. We also taught a ton of people. 

So one of our new investigators is Deber. She is awesome. She is just soaking everything up and reading and praying and I think she is finding that this is all true... cause it is!!! I just love teaching her.

Another is Marissa and Ezekiel, her son. She used to be a Seventh Day Adventist and it is just way too hard, so she is looking for peace and comfort. Why not find it at our Church? But she is just awesome and willing to go to Church to check it out!! And her son is so legit. He loves God, as most children do. He was actually the one that kept telling us to come back. But then we found his mom at the right time. Great family.

Then Sean is 21 and just really needs to get his life in order. Really cool. We were talking to him and it was just the first lesson and he was smoking and asking a ton of questions. So he asked about smoking and when we said we don't do that, he put the cigarette out immediately. So awesome! 

Then we have Danika. She is soooo ready. She is looking for a family centered community and something that she can feel like she can talk to people and know people. She was Catholic so just looking for change and is so ready.

So tomorrow is transfers (they changed to Wednesdays) and I am actually getting transferred. It is really sad because I don't think I am done with this area yet. But I am excited for a new adventure. My new companion is going to be Sister Hudson. Don't know anything about her.  I am going to Crestmoor Ward in Aurora. So this is going to be fun.

Anyway I wish I had more time but I love you all and I pray for you everyday!! Keep the faith. God is good. Too many things have happened for me to deny that. Have a wonderful week. 

Much Love,  Sister Richards

I love prairie dogs and they are everywhere here, I just die

It's what I do.  So I have this thing where I love to stand on chairs.... and Sister York made me a cake yum

 

our cute little elves from our zl's

Editor's Apology......January 13, 2016

I must apologize for not posting Sister Richards' letters for such a long time.  Christmas happened.  You will be glad to know that I have finally caught up. Now on to her brother's blog to get that caught up.

The Refiner's Fire.......January 11, 2016

Baby it's cold outside!

This week was pretty good but as you can tell, it was not without its struggles. As is with life. But that is okay.

Monday we had Sisters p-day and I am an idiot and didn't take any pictures again. I am a worm. A worthless worm. Just kidding but it was super fun. We did skittle bowling. Which is every skittle color is a different type of bowling. So you pick a skittle before you bowl and you have to do that, like granny style, backwards, under the leg, etc. It was pretty fun. Then we had a pretty upsetting lesson with one of our investigators that wanted to be baptized. Now she doesn't. But we saw her again and she is doing better. And she came to Church so that is something. We are probably going to start all over again with her and just try to help her remember why she wanted to in the first place. Life is just getting in the way for her and she cant really see the good. This has been happening a lot with everyone in this area right now which is a little interesting. But it just makes me think about how we need to remember our Savior always!! Remember Him and put God first and everything else will fall into place. It is not going to be easy but it will be worth it in the end, if you truly love God and trust in Him.

Tuesday was pretty good. We did some service and had a pretty good lesson that was not planned with a less active member. And it really got me thinking about putting our burdens on Christ. He wants to take them from us. I shared in Matthew 11:39, I think, where it talks about that. He knows everything we are going through. Let Him take those from you.

Wednesday was great. We found a new investigator and had a pretty good lesson that was super simple so it was good. He is Catholic right now and we are not too sure he is super golden or anything but there could be some potential. We also saw John Sepp and he is just the funniest old man. I just love him. He also is trying to get me to be a cop after my mission... yeah, that's not happening. But then he said we were the cops for Christ and it was kind of funny to think about. We are going around trying to make the world a better place and bring people the truth so it kind of makes sense. 

Thursday was a very good day. Very spiritual. We had an amazing zone meeting and I learned a ton. We talked about confidence in our calling and having a vision for the future of who you want to be. Then we talked about how we need to give people a clear choice so that they understand our purpose. It was very inspiring. So much work to do. Then we talked with a less active member and he is so cool. He is from Ethiopia and just has so much love for God. And he came to church too. So cool. Then we got in contact with one of our other investigators, David. That was a very spiritual lesson. Everything he said tied back to the Restoration and we had answers for him. It was a very inspired lesson. It made me feel so good. Sadly he didn't come like he said he would but that is OK, next time.

Saturday we had a blitz in our area. So our district just came to work in our area for an hour. We found quite a bit of potentials and so that was super awesome. Then we had to drop an investigator. Sad... But its OK. There are other people that are prepared. We just have to find them. Then we went on an exchange for the rest of the day and that was so good. I was with Sister Ahokava in her area and she is just awesome. We almost lost our toes to the cold while tracting but it was an adventure. But we also had the coolest, most spiritual experience ever. We were teaching one of their investigators and the spirit was so strong during that lesson. And it strengthened my testimony so much. We were talking about faith to start cause that is what he read about and he told us that he just decided to stop drinking coffee. They hadn't even talked about that yet. He just said that it felt right and it was good. SO COOL!! I wanted to cry right there. But then we taught the Plan of Salvation and holy cow, that was awesome too. I learned so much from that lesson. I know that it is true. It just makes so much sense. But then we invited him to be baptized and he said yes before we even finished asking him the question. I about died. I was so overwhelmed with the spirit, it took all my energy to not cry like a little baby. It was just what I needed that day. It was such an amazing experience and just made me want to teach everyone in the world. But it also made me realize how important the Spirit is in this work. It is so good, I can't even describe!

Anyway the struggle boat is so real, but remember Jesus is the captain. 

I love you so much and miss you tons. Hope you have a wonderful week. I love hearing about all the wonderful things that are going on. God is real!!

Much love, Sister Richards

Note.....January 11, 2016

Note: So I started to write this email as my main email but then it became a tangent and I thought that you could just have it. You can share it with anyone you want to or even put in on the blog, I don't mind. But it was just random. Also I felt like that topic was very appropriate for this weeks subject line so thanks for that!!

Yeah Lisa told me about your therapy getting in the way! No worries. Thanks for the addresses! Yes I did get the Read About It. It was very nice. I liked all the pictures :)

I am glad that your back is doing better. Blessings are pretty great. I have definitely heard some things in my blessings that make me go, "dang it". But its all good. I love getting blessings. The power of the Priesthood is so real!

That is so fun that you got to go to the temple. I have missed going to the temple so much!! And now we are going even less this year because of the new rule. It makes me sad but I will definitely do as much work as I can and get some help too.

Good luck with your talk! I am sure it is going to be great!! And that is interesting that Beth gave a talk about the Holy Ghost cause that has been something that has been coming up a lot lately in my studies. The Holy Ghost is so important in this work and I am really trying to figure out how it works in me too. And I really like your topic though. It hits pretty home for me. I can't tell you how many times I have been grateful for the struggles that I go through. I know that sounds weird but if you know that all things are for your good, you have a better outlook on it. I am going through the refiners fire right now and it is hard. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. And it also makes me think about Mosiah 24:14. We go through the things we do to learn and to test our faith and to come out of it with a stronger relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. But we are also able to use those things we have learned to help other people. And that is something I feel like I am doing now. I don't know everything, nor have I gone through everything the people I talk to go through. But I know the importance of relying on my Savior during those hard times. I am not perfect at it but that is why I am tested. To learn and to become better at it. Ether 12:27 comes to mind too. With faith and humility we can overcome any weakness that keeps us from progressing. Through the power of the Atonement we can be made whole. Mosiah 14 (its also in Isaiah) talks about about how with His stripes we are healed. That is so true. The Atonement leaves no scars. Don't let yourself struggle more than you have to. He went through it alone so we don't have to. USE the Atonement. Don't let it go to waste.  

Anyway that was a really random tangent. I think I needed to write that more than anyone really needs to read that... But there it is for you!

Our new companion....January 4, 2016

This is Sister Gucci.... There is a very long story about this doll.... I will try to explain. Our zone leaders came to our house Friday cause I was sick and so they left a huge bag of random crap on our doorstep. This doll was in it as well as lots of other things but we thought it would be funny to name her and leave her in different places. The name is a whole other story...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!....January 4, 2016

How weird is it that it is 2016?? Let me tell you, its weird. And I definitely missed having our cute little family party on new years eve...

This week was a little bit of a rough one but there were lots of miracles and good things learned so it was all worth it I guess.

Tuesday we had quite a few lessons. It was kind of cool. But we went on exchanges that night a little early cause we had a lesson planned at the time that we would normally exchange. But for some reason I was terrified to go on exchanges. I am not super familiar with this area yet even though I have been here for 5 weeks now...awkward. But the lesson was good. Sad but good. She thinks Jesus hates her. But then we found out that she is not all there, so sad. Being a psych major is really helpful sometimes...

So Wednesday was really awesome. It was definitely Spirit led. And I actually had fun and laughed so there was nothing to be scared of. But I was with Sister Wick in my area. I don't have a picture sorry. Maybe next time I will. We did some service at a thrift store and that was fun. We were just organizing racks of clothes but the inner OCD in me was dying cause I wanted to finish them all!! Oh well, but it definitely brightened my day. I love service! Then after lunch we were totally in the right place at the right time and it was awesome. We were trying to get in contact with a less active member and they were not home but we saw a girl across the street standing outside of her house so we went to talk to her. She had been locked out of her house and didn't have her phone, so we helped her call someone to come unlock her house. So we just decided to wait with her and just so happened to share the restoration with her. It was really cool. She is super open to everything but we handed her off to YSA... dumb. Oh well. That was a cool experience none the less. Then we gave someone a jump and they said that they wouldn't mind having missionaries over so that was cool. Later that day I realized that we had already tracked into that house and found a potential, so I guess we were just supposed to see them. But then we went knocking on doors and the first door we knock on we taught him the restoration. He was so cool. He is just looking for peace and hope and so it was just great that we could share some joy with him. He is going to work out in the ocean for 3 months though so that is a bummer. But we gave him a Book of Mormon so he has plenty to read :) Those are just the highlights of that day but it was awesome. But I also realized that I have a lot I need to work on. But that is OK. That's life right?

Thursday was good. Not much happened cause we had to go in early for obvious reasons. But that morning we had a whole mission meeting. It was super good and really cool to see all the missionaries in my mission. It is a lot smaller than I thought but still super cool. I learned a lot about being the best me and remembering who I represent. It was just very eye opening and made me think about a lot of the things that I need to work on. It was just really good. I also got to see everyone that I know in the mission so far so that was super fun. It was really good to see everyone from my old zone and even from my MTC district. They are all super cool. It was super good to see everyone. But then we went to help someone move out and that was a little interesting. The guy actually kicked us out after an hour. Didn't really want our help after all. But that is pretty much all that happened that day. We didn't really do anything fun when we went home.... yes we are lame. Also I am so lame cause I have just been spacing taking pictures lately... It makes me sad. 

Friday I got super sick so that is all that needs to be said about that. We just stayed in all day...

Saturday was way rough... We did find a couple of potentials but other than that we just struggled. And we did have a lesson with our 9 yr old investigator but he just isn't progressing and it is very sad. 

But that is about all folks. Until next time!!

Hope you are all having a great new year so far and hope that you have made lots of good goals to look forward to. 

Much love,

Just waiting for our Sister Training Leaders

Sister Richards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a story to this picture.....December 28, 2015

Sadly I do not have any pictures but this one from this week. And I thought it was a funny picture. But there is a story behind this one. I was getting out of the car and going to the back seat to get my bag when the phone rang and we answered it but I didn't want to stay outside or go back to the front seat so I just crawled into the back seat. And then while my companion was talking on the phone I got a little bit tired and then I got stuck. So its not really a great story or anything but I felt it needed explaining... Oh and thanks again for the presents and stuff. I about died when I opened up the poo-pourie! haha

Laughter is a wonderful thing.....December 28, 2015

Well hello!!! It was really good to see you and talk to you on Friday. I felt like I was home again, it was great! Family is the best.

I didn't really get to tell you about my week but it was amazing. It was a good Christmas week. The Christmas Spirit is real. We laughed so much and talked to so many people. It was truly amazing. Great week!

Monday we had zone pday and we went bowling! It was so much fun. I totally beat my team the first round. But by the end, Elder Bird and I were tied.... So close to winning... Oh well. When we were leaving, the manager, who is a member, stopped us and said that we could have free bowling every Monday if we just tell them his name. That was super cool. So basically we are just going to go bowling every pday now. Haha. Oh and we also did this white elephant thing. That was really fun. I got this big foot call thing. It was funny. That got passed around a bit. In fact there were two of them so now the zone leaders have them both. So funny. I got those capsule things that you put into water and they grow. Those are still cool by the way!

Tuesday we met with this family that are less active members and they were thinking about moving to Ohio for his job. So that mad me super happy.

Wednesday was so fun. We had district meeting and I had to give another training. Luckily it was only supposed to be a five minute thing so it was all good. We met with a less active member that cant come to church cause her family won't let her. It was so sad but she still finds so much joy in this gospel, it's great. We also met with a family and that was a very interesting experience. One of her kids was seriously being the devils advocate. He didn't want us there and was doing everything possible to cause problems. But we made it through the lesson and when I was talking about the first vision, all was quiet for once. It was really cool. But we also left feeling not so good about it. It was hard to teach with such a negative force coming at you. But she still wants to keep learning and coming back to church. That night we went caroling and it was so much fun. We also had a really cool experience. We were going up to this house and one person didn't want to cause it smelled like weed but we were like, everyone could use some Christmas cheer. So we knocked and no one came to the door but we saw them in the window. So we just decided to start singing anyway and they finally came to the door. And it was a woman and her daughter and the mother just started to cry and was just looking at our name tags. When we were done she told us that her husband had just passed away and asked if anyone sent us. So we took that opportunity to let her know that our message is one that can bring her peace. And she said that missionaries could come back. It was so cool. The power of music is real. God is real. 

We talked to so many people on Christmas Eve. It was a good day. We had to come in early so we watched Joy to the World and the Testaments. It was really cool and a great thing to remind us about the true meaning of Christmas. It was a powerful thing. 

Christmas of course was so good. We got to spend it with so many people. We had breakfast with the Thompsons and they taught us a game called Dutch Blitz. It's basically Nertz so I was in heaven. And I almost won. Anyway it was just great to spend it with families and it was so good to see everyone! I love you all!! 

I hope you had such a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the time you have with family

Much love!!

Sister Richards

Christmas time is here.....December 21, 2015

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Ok I know that it is not Christmas quite yet and that I will actually get to talk to you on Christmas but I couldn't resist! :)

Sounds like the Richards Christmas party was fun. And I am glad to hear that we won the volleyball game. As we should every year. Haha

Also I almost died when I read what you said about the house smelling. Good one mom. 

This was a pretty good week. It snowed like crazy on Tuesday so our cars were parked. Which meant that we had to walk everywhere. But my companion was actually sick that day so we didn't even have to go out. But, holy cow, it was a blizzard and Colorado doesn't know how to plow their streets. My companion is from Vegas so she was freaking out about the snow. And she is just lucky that I know how to drive in the snow or we might be dead. They only plow the main streets so everywhere else has like 2 feet of snow just chillin there on the streets. It was terrible to drive in the next day. And I am so tired of driving in it. It's annoying. But I'm just grateful that I can drive in it or we would probably be dead. 

Wednesday was a good day. We got to visit this guy that hasn't been active but it was a really spiritual experience. We were just trying to get to know him and he started to get really emotional about his testimony. It was really cool. God is real. The Spirit works. Also miracle of the day--we got stuck in a pile of snow, that I knew we would get stuck in but I went for it anyway and this random guy came and helped us out. It was very nice of him. 

Thursday was an even better day. We got to go sing Christmas songs at a nursing home and it was just a blast. Old people are great. And I just love singing so it was good fun. We also got in with a couple of people that we haven't been able to for a while so that was a miracle.

Friday we did our usual food bank service. We got some good cinnamon rolls out of that. But I just gave them away cause I was going to be sick if I ate all of them. Also I ate an entire cake by myself in like 15 mins so I was going to die if I had more sweets! It was some good cake though. We had a great lesson with a less active member and she is doing so much better. This gospel is so amazing. Seeing the difference it makes in peoples lives just blows my mind. I love it. We had another lesson where the Spirit was just so strong and my companion totally rocked it. This lady had so many questions and it was just so cool. She had her questions confirmed while we were praying so it was really cool. God is real. And then we had another lesson and she is so cool too cause she feels a difference and is trying to find the Spirit more in her life. I love when people are actually working to come back. Its cool to see. 

Saturday was okay. Lots and lots of finding. We met with a lady that really wants to come back to church and wants her children to get baptized so I am excited to be working with them to help them all. And then we met with a little boy that is trying to decide if he wants to be baptized and it was just a really good lesson. The Spirit was there and I think he is really going to think and pray about getting baptized. It's gonna be awesome!! 

Yesterday was the Christmas program and it was so cute. Lots of good music and cute children. And so many people came to Church that normally don't so it was good. Also John Sepp, the one I told you about last time, thinks I look like Reba... Awko-taco. He is also sort of blind. Literally. So that was funny to hear. And he puts characters with people and said I was the smiling one. I thought that was nice. It made me happy. 

Anyway so Christmas day... I don't know if it is going to be Facetime or Skype or what time for sure yet. But it might be between 4-6pm my time. I don't really know. Sorry. The members we are doing it at haven't gotten back to us about what time we could come over but yeah. Hopefully you will be home when I call.... I can't wait to talk to you and the fam. It's gonna be great!!!!

Oh also I got the package! And I got something form Aunt Jan too so that was nice. 

I hope you got my letter but I hope you all remember Christ this Christmas and what He has done for each of you personally. I am so grateful that I get to share the gospel during this time with others.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will talk to you soon!!! :)

Much love,

Sister Richards

Pictures December 14, 2015

I found my street!!!!:)It made me happy. Not the greatest picture but...

It's snowing!!!

Ho Ho Hello December 14, 2015

Well this week was a pretty good week! New transfer, new companion, new area, new house, new baby pool... So its pretty great. Change is good. Sometimes it stinks but it is very good.

First off I did get your green letter and card. Thanks so much! And I was going to tell you that you could send my package straight to my apartment for Christmas but you guys are just too good. Oh well. Hopefully it will still get to me. The mail service is rather poopy. Oh well. I will give you my address anyway just in case. 

This week has been filled with lots of finding and talking to people so that I can get to know them so that has been fun. A little overwhelming but its a great learning experience. 

Wednesday was awesome. We had a little Christmas devotional thing where we all got together and just talked about Christmas. We also had a guess speaker and it was so cool. It was Paul Anderson and his wife Tracy. Paul is a member of the Piano Guys in case you didn't know. So it was just really cool to hear his story of how they got started and all the miracles that they had when filming their videos. It was really cool. He also showed us a couple and they were just awesome. I loved it. It was also fun cause I got to see some people from my last zone and district and so it was great to see them again. We also did skits and got to sing songs with Santa and take pictures. It was just great fun and it was a great reminder of what Christmas is all about. Christ! It was a great time.

Thursday we had zone meeting. It was so weird being in a different zone with Elder Bird again as my zone leader. But we had some great trainings about doing the impossible. It really puts things in perspective. With God, all things are possible. We had a couple lessons with some less-actives so that was good. The people here really struggle and it just breaks my heart a little. But it's great that I can try and help people find peace in Christ and receive the gospel. What a great work this truly is. 

Friday was very humbling. We did service at a food bank and it is just crazy how many people came in for food. It kind of reminded me of the St. Agnes' food pantry. I loved doing that. But then we met with a recent convert named John Sepp. He has some really funny stories. He used to be a detective back in the day and he has a picture with Mohammad Ali so that is pretty cool. I would tell you the story he told us but its rather inappropriate. But he is great. He loves the gospel so much and it truly makes him happy. Its so cool to actually see it. He didn't even want to talk to us that day but once we got in and started talking about the gospel he was happy. It was awesome. Then we had our ward Christmas party. It was cool. We were in charge of a station and we just talked about Christ's birth and how Christ is the center of Christmas so it was really cool. 

Friday was filled with sooooo much finding. Such is my life. No one wanted to talk to us though. But that's ok. We still tried. That night there was this Christmas choir concert thing going on that we went to cause there were going to be lots of non-members. It was really cool. The Colorado Mormon choir was the best. We missed my favorite songs though cause we had to leave early for an appointment. But it was still really great. There was a Lutheran choir that sang a song I sang in Chorale so it was kind of cool to hear. (I think we were better though). But it was great. 

Yesterday was good. Church was pretty good. learned a lot about faith so it was great. We had some great miracles too. We were knocking on doors in this one place trying to find this girl and we knocked on one door and the door next to it opened up and it was a little boy that was at the Christmas party that is not a member. We had no idea that he lived there but it was just cool that we were able to find him when we weren't even trying to. And he and his mom seem really interested so that was cool.

Anyway that was my week. Thanks for everything you all do for me. I love you all. I hope you have fun at the Richards Christmas party. Eat lots of food and popcorn balls for me. Man I will miss those. Hope you have a wonderful week and always remember why Christ was born for you!! 

Much love,

Sister Richards