Good Bye to Elder Herman - Hello to Elder Sparks

4/18/2016

Heyo peeps!! 

What an exciting week!!

Monday was Elder Herman's and I last day together and we went and visited about 5 people that night and said goodbye, he will be somewhat missed. haha just kidding I love Elder Herman.

On Tuesday we had transfers and I got Elder Herman to take a picture with me while holding my hand!!!! (It's a pretty big deal because he HATES any and ALL physical touch of any sort, but I broke him into it a little bit (;  ).  And then I got my new companion!!  His name is Elder Sparks and he's from Rexburg, Idaho!! He's been out about 4 months and we are absolutely FIRE together! We are going to put Visalia 4th Ward in flames with all the work we're gonna be doing!! 

We found 2 new investigators on team ups on Thursday and their pretty cool.  Manuel is one of them, he's 20 years old and wants something that can help make his family even happier than they already are!  He's gonna have a WOW problem though, he was high on weed when we first contacted him. The Second one's name is Kevin Harper and he has met with missionaries about a year ago. But it wasn't till after he stopped meeting with hem that he really found something he liked ...PRIESTHOOD!  He is fascinated by the priesthood and how we have it and how it was restored back on the Earth today! Can't wait to continue teaching both of them! 

On Sunday we had a miracle happen! So it was about 9:30 pm and Elder Sparks and I wanted to teach just 1 more lesson, we walked down the street and didn't see anyone. So we stopped, prayed that we would be able to if not teach but just talk to at least one more person. After the prayer we started walking again and came across 2! people in a parking lot and just testified to them about Heavenly Father and how much he loves them! Neither of them were interested but they had us say a prayed for them!  BOOM! We didn't just talk to not 1 but 2 people!!! It was amazing! Heavenly Father  definitely answered our prayer and then some!  I'm so excited to be out here preaching the gospel to people!!  Even the ones that aren't interested i am happy just to talk to them and testify of things I ABSOLUTELY know to be true!! I love you all!! 

Elder Richardson

We had a little extra fun at
an investigators house this week.

I'm AWESOME at pinball!!!
This is with only one ball not 5!

SERVICE AND FINDING

4/11/2016

This week was full of SERVICE. Allison, the girl we helped move last week, needed help finishing moving so we spent another 5 hours finishing up cleaning!! It was so much fun and she is meeting with us for lunch today! We found a new investigator named Jeff this week! He's a cool guy that believes in God but doesn't understand the importance of going to CHURCH! We are meeting with him this week to help explain that to him. 

On Saturday we helped this lady we met at an RV park pull her weeds! Mom and Dad, thank you for forcing me to pull weeds on Saturday mornings when I was younger (even though I hated EVERY second of it) cause it definitely prepared me for this. We spent 4 HOURS at this ladies house and only got a Quarter of it done!! And she doesn't believe in chemically spraying her weeds so we are literally tearing apart this ladies yard for her! And the best part is we are going back THIS Saturday to pull MORE weeds! 

On Saturday we also had transfer calls ANNNNNNNNDDDDD NNDDNNDNDNDNDNDNDD  (drum roll please) I'M STAYING IN VISALIA!!! Elder Herman is getting transferred to Fresno though!! I'm so excited for him!! He's gonna do great!! My new comps name is Elder Sparks, I think he's a newer missionary. Well that's all!! Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Richardson

1965 DODGE CHARGER - AT A MEMBER'S HOUSE IN VISALIA

ANOTHER BIKE WRECK - I WENT BONG AND FOUND A BONG! HAHA!

4/04/2016

This week was pretty cool! 

On Monday after we got back from the Sequoias Elder Herman and I got to go work out with a recent convert and his little home gym set that he has. About half way through the work out he sees I was using some 50 lb dumbbells (the heaviest ones he has) for everything that we were doing and he asked me if I would use them back at the apartment. I told him I would and he said I could have them for free!!! I almost couldn't believe my ears and at first I refused and said I should at least pay him something and he told me it no that he was going to sell them on eBay anyways but I can have them since I'll use them. I was like a little kid on Christmas!! I got 2 free 50lb dumbbells to take back to the apartment and I have used them everyday since then!! 

On Wednesday we had to use the computers at the church for some of Elder Herman's training. On the way back I was riding with no handle bars (like always cause who steers a bike with 2 hands these days) and we were riding towards oncoming traffic and for some reason my bike started wigging out so I reach my hand out to steady the bike and then all of a sudden my bike drops out from under me and I decided to go on a slip n slide right next to oncoming traffic on the asphalt! I quickly hopped up and got onto the sidewalk before anything could happen and luckily the California drivers decided to be smart today and actually avoid something that was in the way of their tires (they usually are idiots and go speeding over whatever the heck is front of them) so my companion grabbed my bike for me. And for the next couple days my whole body was sore from head to toe cause I literally slid about another 5 feet past my bike. I'm ok now though!!! 

This weekend was General Conference!!! It was awesome! SO much was to be learned. I really loved Priesthood session this year. Holy cow President Monson is getting old though!!! His Priesthood Session talk was only 4 minutes!! I still loved it no matter what though. We went to a different place to watch conference to all but the last two sessions!! 

Yesterday after conference a lady called us up and asked if we could move her. She is a single mom that was getting evicted so of course we said yes!! We got another 2 Elders and went to work. We spent 4 1/2 hours moving this lady but it was all worth it and she is a potential investigator now!! The funniest thing is Elder Russel and I were moving a couch into the U-haul and we threw a blanket on top of it. As we threw the blanket on top of it a pouch fell out and I grabbed it and looked inside of it. It was a broken Bong!!! We soon found out that it was the daughter's (she's in college right now)! It was very funny and surprising and that daughter should be getting a very furious call from her mother today! Well that's all for this week! Love you all!!

Elder Richardson

Hands Hurt!

Shirt ruined.

                   

 

FUNNY FIND WHILE WE HELPED MOVE SOMEONE      

ZONE CONFERENCE - EASTER

3/28/2016

This past week we had a zone conference. It was awesome! Learned a lot and have a new outlook at how elder Herman and I are going to do some things! 

The rest of the week was ok. We found a new investigator named Paul and we picked him up because we watched a ufc fight with him. We saw him outside his house and he said he wanted to meet with us so we went inside and he sat down and he said watch ufc with him and then we would talk. So we watched the fight (it was awesome by the way) and then we talked and he said he wanted to learn more because we sat there and got to know him instead of just shoving religion down his throat!! It was awesome! 

On Easter we had dinner with some fun members and shared a message about Christ.

Today, we just got back from the Sequoias! It was awesome!! Lots of pretty views and trees and SNOW!!! It was fun! Well that's all for this week!! Love you all!!

Elder Richardson!!!

We are driving back from the Patriarch's home... Elder Hermann just got his patriarchal blessing.

RAIN AND WRECK!

3/14/2016

So  to highlight the main points of this week

-It rained

-I crashed another Elders bike

-it continued to rain a lot

At the start of this week it was nice and sunny but by Wednesday it was very rainy! Which is awesome!! Except when you're on bikes...But we make due! People seem to feel a little bit more it when two missionaries show up at their door soaked to the brim. And others don't feel like they should open the door at all. 

Anyways, it continued to rain the rest of the week and continued to soak us. 

Then, On Staurday I was crossing a main street and started skidding and ae cement in front of about 50 people!! I broke th bike and am now using another Elders bike! I love you all!! Hope you all had a fantabulous week!

ELder Richardson

I saw a Lamborghini.

GIVE IT MY ALL!

3/07/2016

Hey guys! How are you all? Having a good week? I'm going to be sending Adam and Haeley's cards either today or next Monday!! (they are growing up wayyyyyyyy to fast. I almost can't handle it. This week in testimony meeting a 16 yr old went up and talked about how his brother (who looks A LOT like Adam) was baptized Saturday. Needless to say I thought about how Adam is going to be getting baptized in less than a year and I started bawling. I'm so proud of him and all my siblings. I love them so much. Anything new happen this week? Miss you! 

So this week was crazy! a lady in our ward had her baby on the 29th!! A leap year baby!! She was 19 inches and is the cutest little newborn ever!! 

This week hurt a lot, we got dropped by our 2 most progressing investigators on the same day, both by phone call (imagine your boyfriend breaking up with you by text...that's how it felt). We tried the rest of the week to find some more people and were still coming up short by Sunday.

But we had a miracle! On Sunday at about 7:45 we still had no new investigators and had a little over an hour of proselyting left. We were riding to an appointment and I was thinking to myself about how this last weeks worth of finding had been. I realized that I wasn't giving all I could have been. Immediately i slammed on my breaks, turned to Elder Herman and apologized for not giving all that I have to give and told him that was changing right then. We talked to EVERYTHING that moved for the rest of the night!! At one point we were riding by a house and saw a lady washing dishes through the window and I slammed on my breaks and we went and knocked on her door. Turns out, they are a family of 4 an dare wanting to learn more about the church! We are gong back this Saturday @ 7 to teach them! Boom!! Just like that we found 4 new investigator!! The Lord blesses his servants that give their all and don't look back! I told Elder Herman that if he ever catches me slacking off like that again that he needs to call me out soo I can continue being the best missionary I can be~! I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Elder Richardson

TRANSFERED TO VISALIA

2/29/2016

So transfers happened this last week! My new companion is Elder Herman!

He's a fun red headed Elder who has been out only 6 weeks. I'm finishing the last 6 weeks of his training. He's a super fun and up-beat Elder who loves to work! When I got to the area on Tuesday we only had 1 progressing investigator...but Elder Herman and I have been hitting the streets of Visalia and now we have 3 progressing investigators and found another 2 as well!
We are teaching this super awesome Laotian guy named Arthur. He is from Colorado and has had a very hard life recently! He has been coming to church and calls us his friends though! He has trouble understanding some English but he is LOVING the gospel and all it has to offer him! We are going to set a date with him tonight! That's all for this week though! Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Richardson

GOODBYE MEMBERS OF PORTERVILLE                             GOODBYE ELDER BRENNEMAN

HELLO ELDER HERMAN!

WE STACKED 3 Book of Mormons and a vase on top of a CAT!!

Bump Day (6 months out) - BURNING a tie.

Random Pictures - Just Because

DOCTORS AND HANDSHAKE!

2/22/2016

This past week has been crazy. To start, we spent 3 days total running around from doctors office to doctors office all for my stinkin foot (which still hurts). My first doctors appointment they took xrays and then told me it was fractured. The second time we went in they told me it wasn't fractured, but at the very end of our visit they told me to come back the next day cause now they were unsure on whether or not it was fractured or not! And finally!, on Thursday they were still indecisive about what was actually wrong with it. Later that day we got a phone call while we were at a basketball game for one of our investigators and it was an orthopedic surgeon in another ward here and he said that my foot will be fine. The ligaments are just sprained and that it will heal over time. So after about a total of 8-10 hour of running around from the doctors office to an xray lab and back (multiple times) I got a 30 second phone call that said I'll be fine....it was hectic! But I had fun learning how to use crutches pretty well! I could crutch backwards, forwards, side to side, and even criss cross (I'm pretty much a pro). 

Next, we picked up a single mom and her 5 kids as investigators this week!!! they are awesome! And all but 1 play basketball! And they're really good too (the mom is white and the kids are black). Shauntell (17) is on girls varsity and is definitely one of the best ball handlers I've ever seen, Austin (15) is a freshman and has never played basketball before but has torn it up this year and will be playing on the varsity team next season, Notosha, Tosha, (12) is on her junior high varsity and is pretty good at her 3's, and Maiyela? (not sure if how it's spelled, 10) and she is the girls girl of the family and doesn't want to play basketball. They are a super awesome family and they are all very interested in our message. We have a lesson with them tonight and we're super excited! 

And then finally, we had transfers this weekend!!!! And believe it or not! I'm being transferred again! I have only been here for 1 transfer and I'm already leaving! I'm going to be heading to the Visalia 4th Ward to finish training an Elder whose only been out for 6 weeks! His name is Elder Herman and I'm excited to move again! Sad to leave Elder Brenneman but excited for my next adventure in a new area! 

Well that's it for this week! I love all you guys so much! 

Elder Richardson

P-Day Fun while my ankle heals - Our Handshake!!  19 steps and counting.