F.I.N.E. November 14, 2016

I hope you remember what F.I.N.E means (Italian Job) cause that is how I am feeling right now about transfers. Let me tell you what is happening. So I am training a brand new missionary from the MTC. Oh it gets better, we are sweeping into an area (which means we are both new to the area and know nothing about it). So I am going to Westminster again but I am in the Savory Ponds Ward. OH WAIT, it gets even better. We are sharing the ward with the AP's... talk about intimidating. More like competition to blow them out of the water! Haha! So, yeah, I am kind of freaking out right now. But I am really excited at the same time. It's going to be great. Gotta love the greeny fire.

So anyway this week was an interesting one....

Monday we had zone pday and that was a lot of fun. We mainly played volleyball, which may have not been smart for me but that's OK. I had a ton of fun. The pain was worth it. And, of course, me and my random noises got lots of laughs. I don't know what it is but when I play volleyball, things just come out of my mouth. No control.

Tuesday was a pretty fun day. We had another car fast so we were biking all day. I had this sweet Beach Cruiser so I was having fun. And it didn't rain this time. But my companion wasn't talking to me that day so that made it hard and made us late to dinner. But we handed out a Book Of Mormon and talked to a lot of people so it was fun. We also did do service at the Task Force and that was so much fun. We had lots of food to sort and you know how I love to sort. But its always fun. It reminds me of the service we would do at the food pantry when I was a youth. Do they still do that? 

Wednesday was pretty good. We were on our way to go to service when we got a call form the Zone Leader asking where we were. They decided to switch the time of our zone meeting and didn't tell us. So we were late. Good one Elders... but it was a really good meeting. We talked a lot about success and personal and companion studies, which was much needed for me because my studies have been crap lately. But hopefully they are on the way up. We did a role play where we had to hand out a Book Of Mormon but the "non-members" were told to not accept it no matter what. So the point was that we can feel successful even though we may not hand out a Book Of Mormon or get baptisms. The success is in the commitment and the desire to share the Gospel and feeling the Spirit testify through you, which I did and I was the only one that felt like a success. That was a great learning experience for me. We taught a couple of random lessons that day and handed out a Book Of Mormon so that was great. 

The only thing I am going to talk about Thursday was when I got the call to train. So AP Olsen calls at night and when I heard it was the AP's I was freaking out. And then when he asked to talk to me, my heart sank. But then he started asking questions about our apartment and bed bugs so I thought I was safe but then he asked one more question. I almost passed out for real and asked if they were sure they had the right sister but ended up saying yes I would do it. So that night, I couldn't sleep and had to be lulled to sleep by listening to Pride and Prejudice. So that was fun. Oh we also had lunch with Benji and that is always a treat! I will miss him!

Friday I got to be companions with Sister Dennis for most of the night because she was training too so we went to the trainers meeting together and exchanged. It was so much fun to be with Sister Dennis again. We were meant to be companions. We have a plan though. After we train our greenies, they will followup train each other, just like we did, and then we will kill each other off. So that is what will happen. 

Well I am running out of time today. But I hope and pray that you all are doing well! Keep the faith and know that I am praying for all of you. Also Ella and Owen are adorable. And I am glad that Owen knows whats right with the superman bib. Just saying!

Much love,

Sister Richards

Dare to dream! November 7, 2016

Ok, for starters, I LOVED the play. So freaking funny. I totally knew you were going to do the brownie and pickle thing and crying... But that was great. And I assume you are going to do the story of how he came into my play for Brian. That will be good. I can't wait to hear it. :) I just loved it, but really Lana Lang? I mean really? Haha

This week was pretty great!

Monday for Halloween we got to spend the day with the Lybbert family. And they stole my camera so I have lots of random pictures. But my pumpkin this year was pretty dope, just saying. But that is really all we got to do. We had to be in by 7 which is right after dinner so we didn't do anything but carve pumpkins and eat candy and food. It was great! And I was Cinderella of course. :)

Tuesday we found a new investigator and he is Asian, named Muchun. I have been wanting to teach an Asian my whole mission! But he will probably be passed off to the Young Single Adults so... lame. But he was really interested to see what our Church looks like so we are going to do a tour for him. It's gonna be awesome. I also had lots of fun at the Task Force stuffing envelopes. I was the fastest one there, too. I did a lot. I just have a talent for doing mundane, brainless tasks! Haha! 

Wednesday we got to go to the Temple!!!!! I loved it!! It was my last time as a missionary going to the Temple and it was sad. But it was great and I got to hand out all those names that I kept forgetting to do the past 8 months or so, so that was great. There are only two left! And I got this new CD from Deseret Book called Gentri and it's my new favorite. There are only 7 songs on it but I love it so much!! (The subject of this email is one of their song lines). Then we went to Kneaders for brunch and we got it for free again. Ballin! But the other great part about the day was that Benji came back from Texas! I have missed him so much. He is going through a lot right now with his dad on the way out. I almost started to cry, my heart felt so much for him. But it was great to see him. He still teases me to no end. But that's ok. After dinner we went to an appointment with a potential and he left a note telling us he was not interested. It made me laugh. I will attach a picture. So it was a good day. We talked to a garbage man that was very nice. 

Thursday we had district meeting and not gonna lie, it was kind of lame. Our district picture is even lamer. But that's ok cause we had miracles happen. First we ran into these two guys that are from Aurora and were working on a house here in Parker, Jim and Seth. They were so nice!! And they were so excited that we invited them to come to Church with us. We gave them both Book of Mormons and Jim wanted a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. He asked us questions and said that we had all the answers he needed. It was really cool. They said we made their day, which in turn made my day. That is why I love being a missionary. And then we had another really cool lesson with a potential who almost became an investigator. She wanted to read the Book of Mormon before we even brought it up and wanted us to share the message with her. So that was cool. But she wants time to read so she wanted us to come back in December. Lame. But she has had so many interactions with the Church and LDS members, it's unreal. So she is cool. And her name is cool too, Theodosia. I don't remember where it's from though... Ireland maybe? Anyway...

Friday we had a pretty cool experience. We met with a less active member who is a "do not contact" in our ward. She was really nice to us though. We started talking on her porch but then she invited us in and gave us lots of her kid's candy and water. Then she told us her story and it was really cool. Kind of sad but interesting. And she was telling us she hates when missionaries would come over and ask if they could share a scripture. So I was thinking, dang, how are we going to share a scripture/message without her getting upset? But then it happened. As she was telling us her story, she brought up the scripture that hit her hard and made her want to be baptized. Mosiah 4:9-10 [9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

 10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.]. But she couldn't remember the reference, just what it said. So I found it for her and we talked about how God is there and everything testifies of Him. So we got to share a message with her and I felt a lot of Gods love for her so I had to tell her. So it was a really cool experience for me. We talked for a good hour or so. 

Saturday was a pretty good day as well. We found another gator and it was a really cool experience. After dinner we were tracting in the dark, which I hate doing, and something told me to keep going down this one street. So we did and we ran into Kyle. He was smoking on his porch and was probably drunk or high but he let us come up to his porch to share a message with him. He said that he had been going through a lot lately and was really struggling. So I shared a scripture about the Atonement with him and told him that Christ was looking out for him and knew what he was going through. I felt the Spirit so strong and just kept saying that this was exactly what he needed in his life. It was so cool. I wanted to end the night on that experience. But he was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and come to Church, which he didn't do. But it was still a great experience and I just felt so much love for the gospel and know that it's true. It's so true. 

Sunday we had a good stake conference broadcast and they talked about Temples. I can't wait to go to the Temple whenever I want! But not much else happened that day. We taught Liam, a 7 yr old and he is just so cute. 

So this week was great. I listen to my play at least once a day because I love it so much. I also love this Gospel so much and am so grateful for a Savior that loves me no matter what. I love Him too. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and be grateful too! :)

Much love,

Sister Richards

 

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble October 31, 2016

Baby pumpkin!!! :)

Happy Halloween!!! I will be a missionary version of Cinderella tonight :) But we will be in all night so... lame. I miss Halloween fun!

Anyway this week was a little bit of a struggle. 

Tuesday we got to have some fun at the Task Force. Except everyone thinks I am an angry child. NOT TRUE!!! So they of course teased me to no end there. Oh well. We were doing a lot of walking because we are running out of miles so that is fun. But it is fun cause then we were out talking to a lot more people than we normally would probably. And I just love talking to people. We got to teach the Kirsten family. They are an interesting bunch. But it's a little sad because they don't have much knowledge about the Gospel. My heart breaks for them. 

Wednesday we got to go back to the Task Force to fill lots and lots of envelopes. That was fun. Nothing like mundane tedious tasks that I don't have to use brain power for. Then we got to have interviews with President and Sister Mendenhall and that is always a joy. They truly are wonderful people. We also got to go to mutual to teach the youth how to make a contact. The first group was a little rough but then we got the hang of things. And it was really cool though to help them get thinking about talking about the Gospel to their friends. We challenged them to bear their testimony on Sunday too and so many did. It really was a cool sight to see all the youth in the Ward go up and bear their testimonies. And they were all different too, that was the other cool thing. It was great.

Thursday we had district meeting. That was pretty good. I felt the Spirit a lot when we were doing a role play. Elder Olsen was on exchanges and he reminded me of my purpose here. I am here to do what Christ would do. To help serve and love those around me. I did have a cool experience. We were coming up to a mail lady and I was scared to talk to her because she was the mail lady and I didn't think she would listen. But then I thought, "what would Jesus do?" and I was overcome with a feeling of love for this lady. And she did listen for a bit but wasn't interested. But I think she needed to know that God knew where she was. 

Friday was a little bit scary. I thought I was going to be kicked out of the area. But I will not go into details cause that is not necessary cause everything is all good now. We met with a basher and I was just done with him. It was draining talking to him. People just don't listen to us. But then we met Norm. He is the cutest old man ever. We just talked to him about how he has seen God in his life. We were there for an hour and he just told us story after story. It was so cute. But it was funny because I felt like sharing a

This cat was tracting with us at night to protect us. It was great! :)

scripture from the Book of Mormon but I knew I had to quote it and not read it from the actual page. So I did and it was "I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things". So I told him that and he agreed and said that's what his bible said too. And then he went on a rant about how the Book of Mormon was false and that it says different things. When we left I just laughed because I knew that I just needed to quote it. The Book is true! Then we had a Trunk or Treat for Auburn Hills. That was fun and holy cow, there were a ton of people. But it was fun. And I got even more candy. 

Saturday was amazing. I was just on a Spiritual high. We were walking everywhere and talking with everyone and it was just great. I got a nice burn to show for it too. But we ran into some cool people. We ran into a member that lives in our ward but goes to another one. And they fed us lunch so that was super nice. So we helped them wrap presents for their kids birthday. And they had superhero wrapping paper. I want some. It was so cool. Anyway, then we met Robert. He is Catholic but hates church because the Catholic church ruined it for him. But we tried talking to him about how great it is and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was really excited and said he would read it and that we could come back next week. Ballin'. He was so funny and has a really cool story. So I am excited to meet with him again. We had dinner with the Egan's and their little boy was so cute. We were leaving and he yells out the door, "GOODBYE TOOT!!" It was so funny. Gotta love children! :) 

Sunday was great. I actually love Church for 6 hours. I get to feel the Spirit so strong for so long. Its great! And we got to have a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation with a little 7 yr old. He is so cute. And I just love the Plan of Salvation. How grateful I am for the Saviors Atonement. We would be nothing without him. 

I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary. The Gospel is true and it truly is wonderful. Keep the faith!! Love you bunches!!!

Much love,

Sister Richards

Just a few more seconds October 24, 2016

Hopefully I get the disk today, I am dying!!! But thanks for the update on baseball. I have missed that in my life.

This week was still a little slow but we found a new investigator so that is pretty cool. 

Tuesday we went on exchanges so I was with Sister Loyd in Parker ward. I didn't get any pictures with her so sorry. I have been failing for real at taking pictures this week. So many regrets. But anyway we had a pretty good day. We found 3 new investigators so that was cool. And we got to meet with a recent convert named David. He is the sweetest. So funny too. He just loves to joke around. He also had knee surgery recently and it brought back some great memories of when I had surgery. We had fun. We also got to have dinner in a mansion. Mansions scare me. They are pretty but I feel like I cant walk in one so as to not mess it up. But that is about all I have to say about that exchange. 

Wednesday we had a pretty good day. Lots of finding. But my favorite part was when we got to teach Sarah. She is my favorite. We always have the best lessons there. She is a spiritual giant. I always learn so much from her when we go over there. For someone not active, she has an amazing testimony of the Atonement. I just love her so much. She is so great! We just shared a talk called "Discovering the Divinity Within" and it was so good. I just felt so much of Gods love for her. She is progressing so well! 

Thursday we had an interesting District Meeting. But I always love learning new things. We also got to have some great experiences. We almost got a new investigator. She was really cool and had lots of questions. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and she seemed really interested. So hopefully we get to teach her. But then we had interesting things happened. We were in an area where there was a school and it was time for school getting out. There were so many people, I didn't know what to do. But then I failed and didn't talk to everyone. But I learned a valuable lesson about how we need to talk to everyone. Everyone needs to at least have to opportunity to accept or reject. But if we don't ever talk to them, we aren't giving them that chance to say no. Or yes. So that was a humbling experience. 

Friday was when we got out new investigator. Her name is Kian. She is a very interesting character but super friendly. She just seemed so stressed and confused about what we were talking about but she said she would read the Book of Mormon and said we could come back so that's good. We also got to see Sister Kirsten. She seemed to be doing much better than last time we talked with her. But she just said some things that really touched my heart. And it made me feel like I am needed and making a difference here. So that was cool. You never know what the good you will do for someone even if it's small. 

Saturday was a rough day! But we met this really nice man named "D".

And he was an answer to my prayers. I was just really struggling and people were being really mean that day and so I just prayed for someone to be nice. And he was so nice. We didn't really teach him anything but he had a cool story about how missionaries helped him out a long time ago in California. So he loves missionaries and just kept saying to not give up. Keep going. And then he rubbed in my face that I only have 3 months left. That was not very nice, but it gave me the motivation I needed to keep going that day. We had the Trunk or Treat for Newlin Meadows. That was pretty good. There weren't as many decorated trunks as I thought but I got lots of candy. And I failed again because I didn't take any pictures. There were lots of cute costumes though. Lots of superman, only the best! :) So that made my day. 

Sunday was pretty good too. We had a really good church meeting and it just got me excited to share the Book of Mormon with everyone. So we went out and talked to a lot of people. And we had a really fun dinner with the Grieve's/Ogden's. They are seriously my favorite. We always have a good time. They are great people. And we started teaching Liam the lessons before he gets baptized. He is a very smart kid. 

So we are halfway through the transfer and hopefully things continue to pick up. Slowly but surely they will come!!

I am so grateful for you, my family, to support me in my decision to serve a mission. I have been blessed immensely by this experience and I hope and pray that I can be an instrument in the Lord's hand in sharing the Gospel with Colorado!

Ask God for you to be an answer to someone's prayer today. Keep the faith! Love you bunches!! 

Much love,

Sister Richards

Yes I look pretty scary in this picture but I was really excited to be walking in the middle of the road in the dark. Yes I am weird :)

Loving the work October 17, 2016

I love fall!

Well this week was another slow one and cholk-full of extremely awkward moments but hey, that's the life of a missionary. I take it to mean I am doing my job right :)

Thanks for the baseball update, I have been missing that in my life.

And yes I am anxious to get the play. And Mom, I love your emoji's, they make me smile.

Tuesday we had a really awkward lesson with a 21 yr old. He was being taught up in Greeley but when we asked about baptism he had never heard of it. But he has been taught almost all the lessons... What the heck? But we had to pass him off to the Young Single Adults so I didn't have to deal with that awkward situation. But it made me realize how important it is that they understand our purpose. We are here to help others come closer to Christ by receiving the restored Gospel. But we also had a really cool experience. We met a guy from Michigan that was soliciting in our neighborhood and he stopped and let us teach him. It was very refreshing to teach someone who was willing to listen. In fact he asked us to continue. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and hopefully he finds missionaries in Michigan. 

Wednesday we didn't really go out. My companion wasn't feeling very well this week so we were in most the week. But we did get to teach Shereen, the lady that came to Church. She is going to be a lot slower than I thought but she loves coming to Church so hopefully the Spirit hits her hard and she wants to get baptized in 4 weeks :) But being in gave me the chance to really think and catch up on some things. 

Thursday we had a bomb diggity zone meeting. It got me so pumped to share the Gospel. We talked about being a committed missionary and building your faith and testimony, and having enduring faith. It was really great. I learned a lot and got really excited to share the Gospel with everyone! And Elder Olsen was there for our meeting and totally did the splits. I was scared for his pants, but he did it and it was great. But then we went in after that. Again more catching up. But I did get to read a lot from the Bible. That was fun. Some of the stories were super sketch, but being able to just sit and read like I would a novel, made the story come alive and make more sense. So that was fun for me, even though we were inside all day. I missed the sun.

Friday was a fun day. We didn't really have anything happen but we had fun doing the work. And check

it, there were these little girls driving around one of those toy cars and it was my Mini Cooper. I wanted to sit in it so bad but just took a picture of it instead! That made my day!

Saturday was a long day of finding. I was wiped by the end of it. We got to teach a couple of people but no one wants to make return appointments. Lame. Awkward/creepy story of the day. We were walking around trying to find a house in the dark and we saw this car drive by. We still couldn't find the house so we were still walking around and the car drove by again but this time he stopped to take a picture of us. What the heck? Who does that? I was so dumb founded. 

Sunday was another really long day but it was good. We had the Temple dedication and that was really good. There were a lot of really good insights and the Spirit was so strong. It just made me want to go to the Temple every day, I love it so much. Temples really are great. We get to have a safe place to go and feel God's presence. Love it. 

So it was a pretty slow week but I still love the work and hope that it continues to progress. May the Lord continue to bless every one of you in your endeavors.

Much love,

Sister Richards

Elder Olson splits

Beautiful Sunrise!

 

We be blessed October 10, 2016

This is Boots our new horse. Smores is no more

Well... this week was interesting. I had to say goodbye to an amazing companion and we literally taught 4 lessons this week. Transfer week is always a struggle. But I think miracles are coming our way.

I am excited to get my play, this is going to be fun. You can do a CD. I have a way to play it. I also have a way to do a flash drive. No need to get a new iPod. Whatever is easiest!

Tuesday we got to have a really cool service opportunity. We got to help a lady make breakfast burritos. And in turn we got to make some for ourselves and take then home. Yum. But it was fun to just talk with her. She is super sweet and I am so grateful that someone let us do service for them. No one ever lets us help them these days. We also met this girl that was so excited to get a Book of Mormon. Whether she was serious or not I don't know but it was still cool to be able to help her out with that. We did have a lesson with Sarah, that was just so amazing. She is so ready to come back. She totally gets it too. She just needs to take that leap of faith and act. We talked about taking small steps. And by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Truly it is those small things that make everything better. 

Wednesday was crazy cause it was transfer day. But we had fun at transfers because our whole zone was just telling stories and boy was it funny. We alsotook lots of fun pictures and videos. Gotta love those primary pop songs. They are the bomb. But then the transfer van came and my companion was not on it... so we had to go pick her up. It was really funny because I got to see everyone that just left Parker again. Good times. But my new companion is Sister Callens. She is from Texas and is super quiet. But she also served in two of my past wards so we have a lot of fun talking about them. 

Thursday we had a really awesome District Meeting. Our new District Leader is Elder Wohlrab and he actually came out with me. So that is fun. The rest of the day was filled with lots of finding and rejection galore. Gotta love it

Friday was special. We actually finished weekly planning on time. That never happens for me. But then the check engine light came on and we had to take our car all the way to Lonetree and have some sisters pick us up. So we were without a car all weekend. Fun stuff let me tell you. Our area is too big for walking so we could only really stay in one area. 

Saturday was a full day of walking but we were totally blessed for that. We got to teach someone! And when we went to lunch, a member paid and gave us a ride back to our area. Bless. Then we had lots and lots of walking and finding to do. But we made it through. And I had a ton of fun. It was great! We got to

Goodbye

take lots of pictures too. We were truly blessed that day.

Sunday we had a miracle happen. A woman that lives just down the street from our Church building, just decided to come that day to see what it was about. And she stayed for all 3 hours and totally loved it! She was just so grateful and told us that it was exactly what she needed in her life. Amazing. So that was really cool and we are going to teach her tomorrow and I'm pretty sure she will be baptized! Love. We also got 3 different desserts that night from members. Oh how I love dessert. 

So all in all it was a good week. I just hope and pray that miracles continue to happen here. I am learning a lot and hope that this time it sticks!

Anyway, I am excited to get the play! Thanks for all you do!

Much love,

Sister Richards

someone made us dinner and left it at our door :)

yes we are wearing winter coats cause it was that cold

Its fall! :) walking our lives away

A member gave us flashlights to walk in the dark :)

Another one bites the dust Oct 3, 2016

Happy Birthday Sister Richards!

Well first things first. It's transfers. I'm staying in Parker...again...for a fourth transfer... I don't know what to do with myself. But my new companion is going to be Sister Callens. I have met her once and all I
know is she is from Texas. This is going to be an interesting transfer for me... But I guess here we go!

Sisters Prep-day

Monday we had Sisters Prep-day and that was fun. We mainly just played games and ate food. But it was fun. 

Tuesday was kind of a rough day. Not much was happening and literally all of our appointments cancelled on us. We had a day planned full of wonderful new investigators and ended up with none. 

But Wednesday we got to do some service and had fun with that. We did the horses again and Boots farted in my face but it was way worse than when Smores did it. Uh I hate that! We did get to visit with Benji as the newest member of the ward! :) That was interesting. He is not getting along with his roommate... But that's ok. Hopefully things work out for him. And we got dropped by pretty much all of our investigators within the first three days of the week so that was awesome!

But Thursday we had a crazy day. We had a great District Meeting. Got super pumped for doing the

District Meeting

Lord's work and then we had a party sort of cause it was our District Leade'rs last District Meeting. We made him brownies :) Then we got dropped by two of our investigators, one of which we didn't even say more than 5 words so that was fun. 

Friday we got to do some fun service. We got to ask for donations. I felt weird doing that actually. But then we found 3 new investigators! How cool is that?! They might have some great potential. We will have to see about this. 

Saturday was a Conference magical day. So many great talks and so many answers found. I had all my answers in the first session of conference so that was pretty cool. I did get my package and thank you for that. I really loved the earrings and journal. Those were awesome! Thank you!

Sunday was another great day full of conference fun. It was great.

So I apologize for my letter. I know I promised a better one but today was not the greatest for trying to make a better one. Next week... Promise :)

Much love,

Sister Richards