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

Transfers!!! December 7, 2015

Well for starters today is transfers and I have finally left Henderson Ward. It was really sad. That area is my baby. Me and Sister Netherton brought it up from nothing!! But its okay, I know it is in good hands with my last companion. I am now serving in the Malley Ward in the Denver North Stake. Which is actually not very far from my last area but that's OK. It's actually really funny cause I went on exchanges in this area a couple of times before so I kind of know some things about it. My new companion is Sister York, who Sister Tracy was actually training. She came out a transfer after me so its going to be fun. I really think I am going to learn a lot this transfer.

Also how is it already December? When did this happen? Also happy birthday to Scott!! Its crazy how time flies.

But this week was a good week. We ended on a pretty good note. I am going to miss my old district but I am excited for a new adventure. It's going to be awesome! It's so weird being in a new area. Oh well... such is the missionary life, right?

I forgot my old planner so I don't really remember what happened all last week...

Tuesday was a pretty good day. We had quite a lot of lessons and some great service. We shoveled snow...my favorite. That's all I got for that day...

Wednesday was so much fun. We had our last district meeting and it was great. We talked about pride,

Behind Sister Mitchell from left to right is: Elder Mork, Elder Porter,

 

Elder Lee, Elder Bird

which is just what I needed. Then we took some funny pictures per the norm. Then we did service at Barr Lake. That was so much fun. We were just cleaning up their shed and moving things around for them but it was so much fun. We got to ride on the back of a truck and oh boy was it cold. Elder Bird and Elder Mork didn't have jackets so that was smart of them. But we just had lots of laughs and good times. Then I actually got my haircut by one of our less active's wife. I will send a picture later. So I thought it was funny that Beth got a haircut too... we are the same person... Mine isn't quite as extreme but I did get 7 inches off so that's cool... That was a good day

Thursday we had such a full day. We had 2 lessons before lunch. We did some service for the Patton farm. We just put up Christmas lights and painted her bathroom. That was fun. And then we had a lesson before dinner and after dinner. And dinner was actually a lesson. It was a pretty great day. Lots of miracles. 

Friday I saw the Gilsons for the last time. They are the best. 

Saturday we had to go to the mission home because Sister Mitchell is follow-up training. So that was fun. I love President and Sister Mendenhall so much! And then we had transfer doctrine so it was fun to see the zone before we all split up today.

Sunday was a rough day for me. I was just so sad to be leaving. I went to all my favorite people. I didn't get to all of them so that made me more sad but it's OK. It was definitely my time to leave that area. 

But that's about all I can remember right now. Thanks for all the love. There will be lots of pictures coming your way! 

I haven't gotten the envelope... no surprise. I don't know why but they just don't like to give me mail. Dumb.

Also that story about Moo is hilarious

Anyway I am so grateful for you and all the love and support you show me. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Much love from Colorado!!

Sister Richards

 

Chris and Stella

Scott and Stella Stanton.  She is the one who cut my hair.

Ray

The Gilsons

Mary Patik and Lil Troch are sisters and they are just so much fun!!

The Penningtons

The Michaelsons

The Jones Family