GOODBYE VISALIA - HELLO ATWATER

JUNE 11, 2016

Wat up Yung Sons!,

This week was CRAZY!

Monday: After emailing we went and said bye to lots of members and then went to watch fireworks (we didn't touch them though!!). It was sad to say bye to all the members in Visalia but I'm excited for Atwater. So our area is pretty big. We cover half the city of Atwater and then the city of Winton and Cressey, all on bikes. So needless to say, I have probably already biked more here than I did in Visalia. It's awesome though! 

On Wednesday we biked down to Winton and spent the day there. Before when I was covering that area in the Hmong branch I had a car and it seemed like an ok town. On a bike, I realize that it is ghetto and sketchy!! Lots of poverty and mean looks come our way. I counted and about 10 out of like 30-40 people I waved at in their cars waved back. I still love to wave and throw a gigantic smile their way though! It makes a lot of people smile too! Who knows! Maybe my smile made their day! Cause not everyone here is on the best position! So if 2 guys in white shirts with corky smiles make their day I'm happy to do it! 

We talked to a lot of people this last week and now have like 5 return appointments with people this next week!! Hopefully something good comes of them!! 

On Saturday, we committed one of our Investigators to baptism!! His name is Larry, he's 46 years old and VERY humble! We taught him about how baptism is a commandment for all of us while on this Earth life! (John 3:5) He said he didn't know that but now that he does he NEEDS to be baptized! We set a date for the 23rd of July! Unfortunately, he didn't come to church so we have to push his date back. He'll be ok though! 

On Sunday we set ANOTHER baptismal date as well! Her name is Gladys. She is in a part member family (boyfriend is a member) and has 2 kids (Geo is almost 2 and Liam is almost 1). We committed her to august 6th! We were very up front with them though. Gladys and James (boyfriend) are excited though and ready to take this step in the gospel! That's all for this week! Love ya'll!

Elder Richardson

Goodbye Visalia - Here's just a few I said goodbye to:

Reyes Family                                                               Nicole

7-11 Wrestling Max Reyes, he thought he could beat me - BIG mistake.

7-11 My comp doesn't like pictures too much... Elder Harolds.

FEEL THE SPIRIT - SEE THE FIREWORKS

JULY 4, 2016

Happy 4th of july everyone!!!!,

This past week was definitely a crazy fun one! So the temp here has gotten up to about 105-110 (still nothing like AZ heat but a little hot) and we have been cruisin through it on our bikes all week! 

On Monday Elder Sparks and I got done with all of our regular Preparation Day stuff and went back home and did the most incredible thing...we napped!!!! Oh my goodness it was so amazing! We took a 2 hour nap and both of us woke up feeling like we were on top of the world! I've honestly forgotten how amazing naps felt!! Definitely one thing I need to start doing on more Mondays! 

On Tuesday we went to A&W with a Brother barton (member) for dinner. I've never had their root beer straight off the tab...IT was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! I've never had root beer that good before! Later that night we went over to John's (Investigator) house to have a lesson with him. He wasn't at church on Sunday and sent us a text saying that he wanted to meet with us. We went over and he expressed some concerns with us and almost tried to drop us. We don't go down easy though!! We talked more and committed him to read 3 Nephi 11 and to pray about it with REAL INTENT. And if he does that. Then he will get his answer to know if he should get baptized the 9th or not.

On Thursday we went over to this less active ladies home and washed her dog Pookie for her! She recently just got out of a surgery to get her toes shortened cause one of them was abnormally bigger than the other 4 on her right foot. She has metal rods sticking out 3 of her toes right now (kind of gross to think about). But it was pretty fun to talk to her and wash the dog! 

Later that evening we took one of our investigators named Bill to a baptism that was going on that night. Bill is a Nazarene and has been for  awhile but passed our church once and said that something, "told him he needed to go visit that church". We told him that was the Spirit and he loved it. The baptism was amazing!! The Spirit was so strong. On the way home Bill talked about how he liked a talk that someone had given about the Holy Ghost at the baptism and wants to feel it more in his own life!! It was awesome! he wasn't able to make it to church this last Sunday but we know he will come soon!!! 

On Saturday we had transfer calls!!! And....(drum roll!!!) I'm getting transferred!! I'm heading back to the Merced Zone to go serve in the Atwater 1st War! (Atwater is about 10 minutes from Merced). My companion that I'm going to be serving with is named Elder Harolds! I have seen him around before and know that he's from Texas and that he is actually going home this next transfer! i'm excited to serve with him though! 

On Sunday some members invited us to go watch fireworks with them. They live right behind a country club that does fireworks so they have the best seats to watch them from!! It was lots of fun! 

Hope all of ya'lls 4th of july is amazing! Love you all!!

Elder Richardson

*********************************************

This is us washing Pookie

This is the Avengers apartment: 

This is the last Avenger District Picture before Transfers:

Elder Taylor and I                               Elder Johnson & I w/ Elder Woodman in background

TURN-UP TEACHING

JUNE 27, 2016

Heyo,

SO this week was a BLAST!!!

On Tuesday we had a Zone Conference and it was amazing! We really stressed the importance of our teaching skills! Cause we are great at finding people to teach! But for some reason our mission is starting to lack in our teaching skills! So our mission has what we call "Ferocious Finding" and now we're starting what we call "Turn-up Teaching". We are really focusing on letting people know why we are coming over to teach them and our purpose in it all! So basically, the basics!! It was a great zone conference.

Later that night, Elder Sparks and i went out with a member and his son to go see a referral that we had gotten the day before. His name is Miguel and he is a TRUE TRUTH SEEKER. He is just looking for the truth and something that is going to help strengthen his faith that he says has really been shaken and broken down lately! He is so awesome and is ready and willing to learn!! we are going to see him again on Friday and we can't wait!! 

On Wednesday we committed 2 of our investigators to baptism!! 

1.Bill Tloa, he's a Nazarene that his super religious! We taught him about how he will be able to see his wife again (she just died in January of cancer) and tied it back into the priesthood and taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He loved it and said the he knows the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God like the Bible. we invited him to be baptized and he said yes!! We're meeting with him later this week to talk about a date.

2. John Gatewood, he's a former investigator from a year ago that we recently came into contact with!! He has some of the most sincere prayers i have ever heard! He knows the Book of Mormon is true and loves coming to church!! We invited him to be baptized on July 9th and he said YES!!!!!!!!! 

We're so excited for the both of them!! 

That's about it for this week though! It was just a great week over all!! 

I love you all!! 

Elder RIchardson

Primary Cuts Off My Tie - Captain Moroni-Bear - Funny!

JUNE 20, 2016

Dear everyone,

So we've had a number of things happen this week.

On Monday after emailing, The Avengers (Elder Crosby, Taylor, Sparks, and I) all went to a sports park here and town and played football and baseball! It was tons of fun! That night we went out on a team up with a recently moved in member who is recovering from getting shot in the arm by a gun!! So he can only drive one-handed and it was kinda sketch the entire time driving with him cause it's his non dominant hand that he has to drive with! 

On Thursday we had a lesson with our investigator John and we invited him to baptized!!! John said that when he comes to know it's true he would love to be baptized! john is an honest truth seeker that wants to follow God the best that he can. We left him Moroni 10: 3-5 to read and we're seeing him tomorrow to see what he thought about it.

We went and taught Jada almost all of her new member lessons. She and her mom are both excited for when she turns 12 so that she can go do baptisms for the dead!  And her mom is starting to work on going through the temple.

On Sunday night Elder Sparks and I walked in and noticed that our leather chair was gone. Immediately we went searching around the house and found it in our bedroom. Turns out our District Leader (he has a key to our apartment) and his companion came by and moved it and left a little surprise in it for us. It was pretty funny. i hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day!!! love ya!

Elder Richardson

P.S. So on Sunday we went into the Primary for a little activity. The kids were learning a song and the better they sang, the more of our tie they would cut off! Eventually it got to the point where the the kids were just screaming the song so that our ties would get cut off! it was so much fun!! haha they gave us other ties to put on though so we didn't actually have one of ours cut off.

PRIMARY CUTS OFF OUR TIES!

MORONI-BEAR

Eyebrows Threaded - The PRICE IS RIGHT!

June 13, 2016

Dear all you beautiful people out there,

This last monday after I emailed, Elder Crosby, Elder Taylor, Elder Sparks, and I went to the mall! Elder Sparks and Elder Crosby went and got 20 minute massages while Elder Taylor and I went and got our eyebrows threaded!!! (ELder SParks and Elder Crosby talked us into it). Let me just say that it hurts!!! My eyebrows were super sensitive the rest of that day and the next!!! but, Elder Taylor's and my eyebrows are now ON FLEEK!!! We are two of the most handsome devils in Visalia now because of how ON POINT our eyebrows are now! 

Later that night we went to Jada's to start teaching her the new member lessons!!! She says that she still feels the SPirit from her baptism and we talked about how the Holy Ghost can always be her constant companion now as long as she is worthy of it! 

on Tuesday we went on exchanges, Elder Taylor came to my area for the day while Elder Sparks went to Elder Crosby's are with him. Elder Taylor and I had LOADS of fun!! We went to dinner that night at the Johnsons (awesome family in our ward; all of the families are awesome though) and they had that Jelly bean game called Bean Boozled! Elder Taylor and I probably ate about 12 Jelly beans each and spit out about 10 of them!! They were so GROSSS! For some of them we even did 2 at a time and both got the combination of booger and barf! It was pretty nasty! Dinner was great and made those nasty jelly bean tastes go away.

on Wednesday, Elder Crosby had to go with some other District Leaders to a meeting in Fresno so Elder Taylor stayed with Elder Sparks and I for another 8 hours!! It was awesome! Tri-panionships are tons of fun on bikes!!! We went to Jasmines (newer investigator) and taught the Restoration! The Spirit was super strong and we invited her to be baptized on the 25th of June!! We're so excited for her! She is 20 though, so we might have to hand her off to the YSA  Elders. but we're still happy for her!! 

on Friday, our ward had a party that we went too! The theme was based off the TV show, "The Price is Right". it was awesome! And the theme of it was based on Food Storage and it's importance! We were able to get a Less Active family to come and their 11 yr old daughter was picked to be a contestant and won the even she was in!!! It was definitely a good experience for them. That's about it for this week though! I love you all!!

Elder Richardson

Elder Taylor getting his eyebrows done

THE PRICE IS RIGHT! - Food Storage Theme

Jada Got Baptized

June 6, 2016

Peeps,

Where to begin...

On Thursday we had a team up with us and we went to drop by a less-active member's house and she let us right in even though we were unexpected. We went inside and one of her friends were there. We talked with them all for a while and then Elder Sparks and I did A little overview of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Afterwards we asked if she'd like to learn more and she said yes!! her name is Valerie and she loves what our church does. She loves the fact the we have missionaries who serve the Lord full time for 2 years and wishes other Christian groups would do it too! We're going back on Friday to have another lesson with her!

Friday morning we got up and got ready right away and went to an 8th grade promotion/ graduation thing for one of our less active members who are starting to come back to church!! It was a solid 94 degrees and everyone was dying and I was just sitting there like, "This isn't even hot people!" I didn't even break a sweat while others were out there practically melting! Props of growing up in AZ :). It was cool though. I've never heard of a promotion ceremony to high school but it was fun! They kinda treated it like they were like really graduating high school though. Kinda a sad day when they realize they still have 4 more years to go!!!

On Saturday was jada's baptism and it was awesome!!!!!!1 We started a little late but it happened! She got baptized! After about 2 years she has finally gotten baptized! I'm so proud of her and the steps she is taking to continue to better her relationship with God. 

On Sunday, a little 8 year old boy who literally could be my brothers twin got up and bore his testimony. the Spirit was so strong while he bore it and he even started crying and had to stop so he could wipe away his tears! At that point is when the WHOLE congregation started just bawling because of this little boys testimony. It was so simple but it was so genuine which is what made it so powerful. That can be the same as all of us. We may not all have HUGE testimonies of the gospel, but if our testimonies our genuine, no matter how long, can be some of the most powerful tools in our lives. Just like the scriptures say,"By small and simple things can great things come to pass". I love you all1! And hope everyone is having a wonderful beginning to their summer so far!! 

ELder Richardson

Left:  I broke a branch off a tree by accident....don't know my own strength still. I was kinda playing with it and ripped it clean off.

Right:  I need an umbrella to protect me from the heat of the moon. :) 

JADA'S BAPTISM!

HERE'S MY GARDEN

I took this on Wednesday and they have already doubled in size again!! The corn reaches the top of my chest now!! Ad the squash and cantaloupe have flowers now!! 

GREAT QUESTIONS - NEW SUITS :)

May 30, 2016

Dear supporters of the Elder Richardson mission!, 

This past week has been filled with many adventures! 

So the garden continues to double in size every week!! I forgot to take a picture of it this past week or else I would totally show y'all!! but it is awesome!! 

We found 2 new investigators this past week! Their names are Bill and Victor and they both have a pretty good knowledge of the Bible and some very good questions to back them up too! They are both pretty cool though. Bill has just recently lost his wife too cancer back in January and was wondering if he will be reunited with her as husband and wife again; and Victor has questions about having prophets here on the earth today. Good questions right? What makes this better is that we answered their questions using the Bible and then introduced the Book of Mormon to them and said that could help answer more of their questions and they both committed to read it!!

SO, we have a baptism this Saturday for Jada!! And we are more than excited for her! Elder Sparks is going to be baptizing her and it's his first time baptizing so i am more than thrilled for him!! 

Nicole is still working to stop smoking by the 4th so she can be baptized on the 18th of this month! So please pray for her! She really wants to stop but doesn't have a lot of faith in herself that she can cause she has been smoking since she was 12 years old!!!

Yesterday after church we got a call to go to the hospital and give one of our members a blessing. His name is Brother McNabb; he's 81 and has congestive heart failure and pneumonia. He is the sweetest old man you will ever meet though! So if y'all could send a prayer his way that he will be ok as well that would be great!  That's all for this week!1 i love you all and hope you're all doing great!!

Elder Richardson

PS:  Elder Pace (my trainer) is home now.  it's just crazy to me. I'm so happy I got serve with my best friend though.

Elder Taylor and I wanna get some different colored suits ;) - see below: