4-17-17 Temples - Plan of Salvation

April 17, 2017

Happy Belated Easter everyone!!!,

This week was another round of crazy and awesome like always!

Monday: After District Meeting I went on exchanges with Elder Nelson (Spanish missionary serving in Coalinga!). It was lots of fun! We had both Elders come down and they worked our area for the exchange.

Tuesday: We continued through the exchange and Elder Nelson and I went to town! We didn't teach a single lesson together! But we sure did hit the streets and talked to people!! It was awesome! We even had a guy insult the Church, but then turned around and thanked us for what we do!! It was awesome!! Tuesday night, after exchanging back, we rushed over to an appointment that we were super late too and ended up picking up a man named Luis as a new investigator and invited him to be baptized on May 20th! Luis lost his wife 3 years ago and it's definitely hit him and his 2 kids pretty hard.

Wednesday: We had a lesson with another one of our investigators named Karisha! We also did service for her that morning. She’s REALLY COOL! She's 27 years old and has had a turnaround in her life from not living the gospel like she should to being an AMAZING Christian woman! She attends a Christian church here in Lemoore and that’s going to be our biggest setback with her because she really likes that church and is even getting into the children's ministry here! But to no avail! We have faith and she's reading from the Book of Mormon! We know she will do what she needs to do!

Thursday: We had another exchange with the Zone Leaders. This time, I went with Elder Kennick (a missionary that came out with me). We had a lot of fun. On our way to dinner though...I got a flat and we had to walk for a bit. We saw a guy though and asked him if he had a pump or anything and he helped us right away! It turned out to be a good contact and we set up an appointment to go see him (he flaked...). Haha unfortunately though, we didn't repair the tube as much as it needed so I was riding on a flat tire for a little bit again before eventually walking the rest of the way to dinner....we were almost 40 minutes late! But they forgave us! We had a member take us out for the rest of the night and we went to another lesson with Luis. His 8 year old daughter, Gabby, was there. She is so cute! We started talking about the Plan of Salvation and we could definitely tell that Gabby had a lot of hurt from her mother's passing as well. We invited her to meet with us and even invited her to say the closing prayer. She gave such a sweet and innocent prayer about her mother! I am truly so excited to help her come closer to our Father in heaven and to help her now that her mom IS OK!

Later on that evening we also went and saw a mom and her daughter. The mom isn't super interested but is open to letting her daughters listen. We ended up focusing the lesson around the mom though as we came to find that she doesn't have the best feelings towards our Father in heaven. She has some questions that she feels HE HAS to answer for her. Hopefully, she'll do the reading assignment we left her and want to meet with us with her 11 year old daughter. 

Friday: We went to the TEMPLE!!!! I absolutely love the temple and know that I am privileged to get to go there at least every 3 months! It’s awesome! After the temple, the member that took us there also took us to Cheesecake Factory (mind you, he brought us and the Zone Leaders!). It was SOOOOOO GOOOD!!!!!!!!! Anyways, during while we were there...I had a fun little experience with some waitresses...and if you truly want to know, you'll have to ask my parents about it. Teehee...

Saturday: We had Luis and a friend come to church and we ended up picking up his friend as an investigator and taught more of The Plan of Salvation to them! (Unfortunately, neither of them came to church though...)

Sunday: We were able to get 4 kids that we are teaching to church (out of a family of 6. The other and oldest son didn't come. We'll get the next week though!) 

Overall, a wonderful week! Love you all!! 

Elder Richardson

Here's a bunch of pictures from the temple trip on Friday

 

      

 

 

Cheesecake Factory!!

4-10-17 Day at the Snow - didn't write

April 10, 2017

Good Family in the ward took us missionaries to the snow on P-day!

4-3-17 Listen to Promptings

April 3, 2017

Hello Everyone!!!,

This week was absolutely awesome!!!

We went on exchanges Monday night to Tuesday evening. Elder Allen came to my area. We definitely had a miracle happen on that exchange. On the way back from service with one of our investigators, I felt prompted to back track a little bit and go down a street where another one of our investigators lived. We got in front of her house, still not knowing what exactly we were doing there, and went and knocked on her door. When she opened the door I was up front with her and told her we felt prompted to come knock on her door. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears. Come to find out, she was mourning the death of a friend who had just recently passed away. It was a very amazing experience and I am SO glad that I listened to that prompting!

General Conference was amazing!!!

Sorry this is so short! I love you all though and want you to know that I know this gospel is true with ALL my heart!!!

Love ya!,

Elder Richardson

3-27-17 They bring the Spirit with them

March 27, 2017

Hi EVERYONE!!

Elder Lopez and I were able to find 5 new investigators this week!

1. Roland is a guy that has met with missionaries before. He's having a hard time believing in God. We keep trying to get him to have a lesson at the church, but it hasn't worked out yet.

2. Elder Lopez and Elder Kennick (we were on exchanges for the night with the Zone Leaders) and they picked up a guy named Tony. Elder Lopez and I originally street contacted him and did service for him (we helped him wash his car. He has tried to meet missionaries in the past, but they never came by even after they scheduled a return appointment!

3. We street contacted a girl named Karisha that goes to South Valley (Christian church here in Lemoore). She is opened minded and is willing to meet with us! We also found out that she is friends with a less active that we know!!! Maybe we'll be able to bring the less active back into the gospel more fully while teaching her friend! 

4 and 5. Elder Lopez and I were super late to an appointment, but stopped by this Spanish dude and he said we could ask his wife if we could come back...what happened next was crazy. We walk in and the wife is balling her eyes out and then the husband just walks out while we're standing in the house!! They definitely needed missionaries when we came by. The husband came back in after a little bit and a lot of the atmosphere of the house changed. They speak Spanish (thank goodness for my companion knowing Spanish, but the wife knows English). But they want us to teach them instead of the Sisters just because of the experience we had. We're excited to go see them tomorrow!!

I love you all!! Have a great week!

Elder Richardson

Baptisms are so awesome!!

I sat in lipstick that some kid smudged on fireplace

      

3-20-17 Transfered to Lamoore

March 20, 2017

So this is going to be really short. I'm in Lemoore. My companion is AMAZING! His name is Elder Lopez and he's from Houston, Texas! Lemoore has a naval base here. It's a great place and I love it! Love you all!!

Elder Richardson

3-13-17 Good People Everywhere

March 13, 2017

BIG NEWS!

I'm getting transferred! I'm going to be transferred to a city called Lemoore, which is still in the southern part of my mission.

I'm sad to leave Elder Blume and the wonderful people of the Exeter Ward, but I am excited for the new opportunity I have to go serve and love the people in Lemoore.

On Monday we dropped a couple of investigators...in summary, they basically tried to hide from us and make us think that they weren't home...but hey completely failed and it was almost more sad… all the effort they put in to trying to hide from us rather than just telling us they weren't interested...oh well though! Just means that there is someone else that is prepared out there for us to go find!!!

On Thursday we went and saw a lady named Norma! She is a really kind Christian lady who definitely loves to help out those who don't always have the best of living circumstances. Unfortunately, because of this charity she has, she is basically getting kicked out of her home because her neighbors don't like the "riff raff" hanging around in their neighborhood. She really is just trying to help others though. But she will be moving probably to Visalia by the end of the month. As we taught her, she eventually told us she had a granddaughter who gave her a Book of Mormon! It's actually a nice triple combination! We committed her to read the introduction to The Book of Mormon and hope to go back soon and teach her how we got the Book of Mormon and that we have a living prophet here upon the earth today!

On Saturday we were on fire. We just were talking to people all throughout the day! We didn't really find too many people, but it just felt good to go talk to people and attempt to share the gospel with them!! 

I love you all!!!! Have a great week! Pray that I will have another Elder’s bike or just a bike in general for at least these next 2 weeks!! 

Elder Richardson

Elder Edwards and Elder Richardson

3-6-17 Testimony / Face2Face

March 6, 2017

Hello EVERYONE!!!!

This week’s email is going to be a little short because I spent a lot of time watching he LDS Face2Face with President Eyering and Elder Holland, as well as trying to find the new first vision video...I found it! It is awesome! If you haven't seen it already go to history.lds.org/firstvision

It is an incredible video that portrays the real event that happened and that I get to testify of almost daily when the opportunity arrives!!! I know it happened with all my heart, might, and mind and I know that Joseph Smith really was called to be the Prophet of the Restoration! How grateful I am that this single experience happened! It has changed my life and the life of many others...FOREVER! I know that because of the Restoration of the Gospel that the Priesthood was restored to the earth and that through it, I am able to be sealed to my family FOREVER. I cannot tell you how happy I am for that. I love my family and I love this gospel SOOOOO MUCH!

As for this week, we found 5 new investigators! We would have found 6...but turns out the person gave us a wrong address and a wrong phone number...bummer right? Sometimes I just wish people would just be honest and tell us that they aren't interested! But hey...it happens! 

Love you! Have a FANTASTIC WEEK! And don't forget to wish my little sister a Happy 7th Birthday his week!

HLUB NEJ, 

Elder Richardson

2-27-17 Tracting Late

February 27, 2017

Hello!

So unfortunately, the baptism we had scheduled for this week DID NOT go through with. Some concerns came up. We hopefully will be able to go back over and settle the concerns our investigator has!

This week was still pretty fun though! On Thursday I got to go on exchanges with Elder James (Spanish missionary serving in Visalia)! We had a pretty good time! Knocked doors and talked with lots of people! We had a fun experience right before we exchanged back though! It was probably like 8:47ish or so at night and we were going to be meeting the other Elders at a destination to exchange back a 9. SO instead of just going to our place pf meeting and waiting there for the last 10 or so minutes, we decided to go knock some doors! Now, usually, I don't think people appreciate their door being knocked on so late at night (especially from missionaries!), but we had fun doing it anyways! We prayed and asked God that with one of the doors we knocked on, the guy would be happy to see us. We went and knocked on his door, and Gus (the man's name) opened the door still in sleep mode! So he was all smiley and just told us to come back another time! It was awesome!! 

We also went on exchanges with the zone leaders (Elder Van Vleet and Elder Arrebalo) on Saturday. Elder Blume and Elder Van Vleet went to town in Farmersville!  Meanwhile, Elder Arrebalo and I had some learning experiences on our own. Overall, a FUN exchange! I also got to do a baptismal interview for the Zone Leaders 9 year old investigator that got baptized on Sunday! I was a really neat experience! 

Love you all!!! Have a great week!!

Elder Richardson 

2-20-17 Picked Weed / Bore Testimony / Baptized

February 20, 2017

A lot happened this last week! 

Monday: We went with Brother Rogers to an investigators house. This investigator had some sort of bong or contraption to smoke weed with on his front table in his living room. He apologized at first for having it there, but then said, "I figure if the government is ok with us smoking weed, then God must be ok with it too." Haha we've got some teaching to do! He's really cool though! A really nice guy as well that works a lot!

Tuesday: We had exchanges with the Visalia 6th Ward Elders (Elder Jensen and Elder Petit). I went with Elder Jensen. While on the exchange, we saw some guy pulling weeds, so we went and helped him! Come to find out, he thinks Mormons are "deceived". And after we helped him, he started egging on a Bible bash!! We didn't join though. We testified of truth and then left. Glad we got to help him at least!!! 

Wednesday: I went with another missionary to a meeting in Fresno and learned about how to be a better leader. Afterwards, I went on splits with my Ward Mission Leader to go see Ray and Sasha to follow up about how they did with the Stop Smoking Program. They didn't make it very long unfortunately. I ended up teaching them faith unto repentance and testified of prayer at the end. After the lesson, I asked my Ward Mission Leader how I did and he told me I "kindly rebuked" them...Which I feel kind of bad about. Bu later that night, Ray sent a ext saying that he and his family appreciate us!

Thursday: On Thursday, we went on exchanges with the Farmersville Elders (Elder Facer and Elder Gibson). Elder Gibson cam with me into my area. We found 3 NEW INVESTIGATORS that day!! It was pretty awesome! We were talking to people like crazy. We also went and saw Laura and went over her baptismal program and a couple of other things for her baptism!

Friday: We went and saw Jessica with Brother and Sister Peterson! At the end of the lesson, Jessica told us she wanted to be baptized in running water....or basically, a river. We have to get permission for that! But we'll see!!! At least they want to get baptized right!?!

Saturday: We had Laura's baptism!! It was AWESOME to see her get baptized!! After the baptism, we went with some members that took Laura and got pizza! 

Great things happening and GREAT things to come here in the Exeter Ward! I love you all!!! 

Elder Richardson 

 

2-13-17 Riding in the Rain

February 13, 2017 

Hello!

I just want to start off and say, that I know my Heavenly Father loves me and everyone around me. And I am grateful for it. This past week has been interesting to say the least. 

We got handed back Laura (an investigator who we handed off to the YSA Elders because she's pregnant) and now...we are baptizing her this weekend!!! It's incredible!! She is SOLID! She has already been doing missionary work by giving her friend a Book of Mormon! We are so excited to have her here in the Exeter Ward! 

This week I got to go on Exchanges with Elder Petit in the Visalia 6th Ward. It was raining and we were on bikes. SO what did we do? We rode our bikes in the rain of course!!! We also were riding by a high school that had just gotten out, and let me tell you..., parents are CRAZY!! WE had to avoid kids and cars alike! I got to see a couple of members that I had met in the ward back when I was in the Visalia 4th Ward. One of them is named Lee. He is a convert to the church that is going to be getting endowed on the 25th of March THIS YEAR!!!! And then...he is getting married to another convert in the ward a month or two after that!!! 

The next day we had a couple hours before President Interviews, so we went out and talked with people for a bit! We ended up going and trying a lady's door and taught her the Restoration at her front door! It was awesome! We ended up finding her as a new investigator for their area!! Later on, we knocked a guy's door and as we were talking, he burnt his sandwich that he was grilling! He wasn't very interested in what we had to share but he was nice about it. Right before he was about to close the door, I jokingly said, "Well if you aren't going to eat your burnt sandwich, I know 2 missionaries who wouldn't mind eating it." At first he thought I was kidding (which I'm not sure if I was or not either at this point), but then he went got the sandwich!! SCORE! It was turkey and pepper jack cheese. We split it in half and once you got the past the burnt part...it still wasn't very good. But it wasn't the worst thing I've ever eaten! 

That's about all for his week! Love you all!!

The gospel is true and it's changing my life and the life of others EVERYDAY!!!!

Elder Richardson