Baptism Plus Rice and Mayonnaise

November 28, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Hope everyone is now thinking about their new years resolution to lose some weight now because of how much they ate this last week! 

Haha this week was pretty great!!

We found a new investigator named Jeremiah this week! He's a pretty big guy that travels to Merced basically every day by bus!! We're going to go see him tomorrow and hopefully pick up some of his roommates as investigators too. 

Thanksgiving was great! For the Turkey Bowl we played Ultimate Frisbee. And not to sound too prideful or cocky... I kicked trash out there. Then again, I'm a try hard so I was probably playing harder than anybody else on the field. But it was still super fun! As the day went on we relaxed for about an hour or 2 with some other Elders at our apartment and then got ready and walked to the church (the People we ate with have to rent out the cultural hall for their thanksgiving because they are so big) cause we didn't have a ride. But the walk was well worth it! Their Thanksgiving was delicious!! Their was so much food! And I learned an ancient Polynesian secret. 

White Rice + Mayonnaise = DELICIOUSNESS!!! I know it sounds weird but don't knock it till you try it!! After we ate we talked for a bit with family members and what not and then we noticed some of them playing around with a volleyball so we joined them. It was pretty fun. And to finish off the night...we went back to the apartment and played Dungeons and Dragons with like 8 Elders total. Not gonna lie, it's fun. I was a little skeptical when they were first starting out but once you get into it it's pretty fun.

On Sunday we had Elizabeth's baptism!! It was super awesome!! We can't wait for her to get confirmed this next week! 

Love you all!!! 

Elder Richardson

  

   

P-Day Workout

  

Samoan Thanksgiving

November 21, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Early Thanksgiving!! 

This week was incredible! Elder Thornton and I were on fire!! We've been going through our ward list and seeing if people are living there or not and if they would like to have missionaries to come by. Basically we're updating the ward list for the ward so we can get them to trust us more. And while doing so we are finding new people to teach as well!! 

We found 5 new investigators!! One of my favorites that we found this week is named Mahesh Natarajan. He's a super cool Indian man that teaches yoga and is a massage therapist. We found him through his daughter Rea, who is friends with a girl in our ward named Abby Rogers. Abby told us to go see her friend and we did! Mahesh is super open to hearing about the gospel. He was raised Hindu but went to a Christian/ Catholic school, so he believes in a higher power. He was most interested to really start hearing our message when he found out that we sacrifice 2 years of our lives to go out and do missionary work!! We are excited to keep teaching him and start teaching his daughter as well 

And that's not even the least of it. We were surprised yesterday with something incredible. As of before Sunday, we had no solids for the month of November. Therefore we were not going to be able to help the mission reach the goal of the power of one!! But Sunday rolled around and our Bishop had us come into his office after church. As we walked into his office we saw one of our less active brothers in the ward sitting in the room. We sat down with him and Bishop and then was surprised with this wonderful thing: There daughter who is 8 right now wants to be baptized on her 9th birthday...which is on November 27th!!! We've already been teaching her in hopes of helping the family become more active and helping her get baptized. It's a miracle!! We just have to finish teaching her a few things (mostly tithing) and have her interview! Elder Thornton and I are so grateful. We know this is an answer to prayers of faith and hard work. But we also know that we can still work even harder and we are going to. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with Turkey and mashed potatoes! Haha I know I'm going to have a good time. I am going to a Samoan Thanksgiving this week. So you already know I'm going to be eating really well. And it's supposed to be a pretty big get together...so big that the family has rented out the cultural hall for Thanksgiving!! 

Love you all, 

Elder Richardson

Elder Thornton - TALL :)

November 14, 2016

Hey ya'll!, 

So my new companion's name is Elder Thornton. He's from North Carolina and has 7 siblings! He's 6 foot 5 and a half...yep, taller than I'll ever be...

And he was scouted to play at NC State and even practiced with the team for a week before switching college's and going to BYU-Idaho. He's super smart and is a hard worker! I'm super excited to be with Elder Thornton and know that we'll do great things together. 

This week we still didn't find any investigators but we definitely will this week 1 We found lots of potential 'couples' and we are even going to see a cool couple that we hope to start teaching tonight! 

Exciting things that happened this week...pretty much everyone that we talk too asks us who we voted for or if we've voted. All I say is I'm not registered (which is true)...and then they look at me weird. But to be real, it's not fair to ask me to vote! I don't even know what the heck is even going on out in the world! I don't know which side I want, so to have me vote isn't really fair! Haha oh well though. I'll make sure to register for the next one! 

The only other exciting thing that really happened this week is...my companion and I stepped in dog poop and got it in our bishops car! !Haha it was dark inside and couldn't really see (or smell) unti we got in the car! At least Bishop will never forget us!! 

That's really all the exciting that happened this week! Sorry this isn't very much guys! But be prepared...coming soon, Elder Thornton and I are going to show Atwater who the true Super heroes are in town.

Love you All!,

Elder Richardson

  

Transfer for Elder Witt 11-7-16

November 7, 2016

Hey ya'll,

So first and foremost...TRANSFER CALLS CAME!!! And...Elder Witt is getting transferred! He is going to one of the more southern regions in our mission into what we call a "zebra" area (English and Spanish)...

So I'm sad to see Elder Witt go. I won't lie, it's been a rough 3 months. But we've both grown. I definitely learned and started to have more growth in other aspects of what it means to be a missionary from him. Elder Witt definitely understands the responsibility in his calling as a missionary. He knows that he would never want to make the church look bad in any way shape or form. He has a very genuine heart for people. When they tell us about the tragedies that they have had in their life, you can tell that Elder Witt loves them and sometimes, as they are weeping, telling us their problems life has given them; he WEEPS with them. That's something that I want to be more like. Elder Witt definitely has a sense of Christlike love. I think back in the scriptures when it talks about how Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus (John 11). Elder Witt reminds me of that so much. Just the Christ-like love he shows towards others. I'm going to miss him and know that he will do well. He is going to do very well. 

I'm grateful for the opportunity that God  gave me to train Elder Witt. I'm thankful for my mission president and the fact that he's worthy of the Spirit of God that inspired him to call me as a trainer and that I should train him.

The only other really big thing that happened this week is one simple fact...WE HAVE 0 INVESTIGATORS!!! Haha literally none of them are progressing in the lessons that we have been called to share and aren't keeping any commitments..so we had to let them go ,unfortunately. But hey, that just means that God knows there are other prepared people for us to go find! 

Also, WE CAN LISTEN TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO BEYOND HAPPY!!! I HAVE SUCH A NEW FOUND LOVE FOR CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! So if anybody really want sto make my day...I would love some Christmas CD's ASAP!!!!!! 

Love you all,

Elder Richardson 

P.S. My new comps name is Elder Thornton! I'll be going to get him tomorrow!! 

    

Baptisms

October 31, 2016

Dear family, friends, and random acquaintances I've met along the way, 

  This week we had a few miracles!

   So this WHOLE week we have gone over everyday to Mya and Robert's so that we could finish preparing them for baptism! It was really fun to go over there and finish teaching them all the lessons! 

  On Saturday, we had our baptism for Mya and Robert (he's a child of record)! It was awesome!! The Spirit was so strong! I'm so happy for Mya and Robert and this new step that they have taken in their lives. I know they will never regret! 

   And the next day at church we were sitting in gospel principles with the Hurtado family (returning less active family whose daughter and son we just baptized), and they said they're next goal is to get sealed in the temple as a family!!!!! That was so awesome to hear.

   We found an investigator through members this last week! Her name is Karen Jackezz (I think that's how it's spelled, it sounded weird when she first said it). She is a friend of the 15 yr old daughter in the family. We are so excited to start teaching her! Especially because the family is starting to become more active again. SO this is an amazing testimony builder to have them be able to testify to her about Christ's church! Karen definitely has some concerns and such about God, but we know that as we study for her, God will reveal to us what she needs to know. 

   Also, it finally rained this week!! It was only really bad on Friday, it poured for probably a good hour and a half or so. But it was wonderful to finally see some moisture here! That's all for this keek though!! 

   

   Hlub Nej,

Elder Richardson

Baptism - Mya and Robert

  

Mirror Selfie Pictures on Baptism day - Elder Witt didn't really want to take pictures with me.

We had a Rainy Day!

    

I Feel My Savior's Love

October 24, 2016

Arizona peeps,

On Tuesday we had zone conference...and...I sang at it!!! Elder Cummings, Sister Abboussou, Elder Witt, and myself sang, "I Feel MY Savior's Love". The first verse Elder Cummings sang in Hmong, Second verse was everyone, Third verse was just the 3 Elders, and 4 verse was Sister Abboussou. Every time at the chorus we all came in again. At the end of the 4th verse..the last 2 lines Elder Cummings and I sang in Hmong. It was really awesome. The Spirit was super strong and I very much enjoyed doing it (I know..the Elder Richardson enjoyed singing in front of a big group of people, crazy right?).

After zone conference, Elder Hopkins and I went on exchanges in my area. We had a great time. For the first night, we had 0 set appointments and found ourselves at 8 PM with nothing to do...but we prayed and went back at it again. As we were riding down the street, I felt a prompting to stop and see a potential that lived right where we were riding by. We stopped, knocked on the wrong door!! Haha they weren't interested. I had to look up the address in some of my old planners in my bag. I found her house, it was 2 houses away. As we were going to walk to her house, I felt another prompting to knock on the house that we were just walking by (mind you it's like 8:10-8:15 , and it looks like it's like 9 PM outside!! SO not everyone likes us knocking doors that late). We knocked and since Elder Hopkins is a Spanish missionary it was like we hit a gold mine cause they told us that they only spoke Spanish...Elder Hopkins looked the people in the eye, grinned, and said, "Esta bien" and then went to work!! Haha it was awesome. Hopefully the other Elders will be able to go teach them soon!! We finally went by the potential's home and she let us in with open arms!! Her name is Lestar and she is awesome!! It was a little late so we decided we'll come by another day but hopefully she comes to church this Sunday! 

On Thursday I got to carve my VERY FIRST PUMPKIN!!! We did it with the Hurtados. It was super fun!!  Haha I carved the heart eyes emoji cause I'm adorable like that! 

On Saturday I got to do something that every missionary loves doing (said in very sarcastic tone)..we got to teach the Law of Chastity to Mya and Robert (9 and 8 years old). We used Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes to explain it!! Haha SIster Hurtado said she'll explain more to them after we left! 

Steven came to stake conference on Sunday!! It was awesome!!

We have a baptism this Saturday with Mya and Robert at 9 AM. Love you all!!!

Elder Richardson

                                         
Temple trip.   I'm front & center, the camera loves me.

  


 

 Looking cute on top of an airplane