ELDER RICHARDSON'S WEEKLY LETTER #18 -- SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

ELDER RICHARDSON'S WEEKLY LETTER #18

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

I had a pretty good week this week! Our missionary work was a little slower, mostly due to the Moon Festival and another typhoon, but all in all it went pretty well.

This week we worked a lot on "Project Pylon" which is our area's vision for this ward. Our goal is to "construct additional pylons" by increasing the membership of the ward and helping them become self sustaining. (I don't think anyone gets the Starcraft reference, but if you did, you would know that it was sufficiently nerdy.) "Project Pylon" is a part of "Project Honeypot" which is our district vision. So this week we spent a lot of time reorganizing our ward list by road so that it is easier to find less actives. It was a good project for when it was raining buckets outside. But don't worry, we did get out on our bikes for plenty of time out in the windy and rainy typhoon. That was super fun.

This week I went on an exchange with Elder Montierth. He has been on his mission for even less time than me, so it was weird being senior companion, and being the one who had to speak Chinese to everyone! We taught an investigator the first lesson and also found a new one! I could DEFINITELY feel the Lord's help in my Chinese during both of those lessons.

As we were walking on the street to try to find one of our new investigators (who ended up not being there) there were a couple of people barbecuing on the street who invited us over to eat some of there food. That's what they do for the Moon Festival. They all get a sidewalk grill and just cook outside their shop and eat different kinds of meat. So we went and sat with them and they just showered us with food; we almost couldn't eat it all! Throughout that, they offered us cigarettes, alcohol, and betel nut, which we of course turned down. It's funny that a lot of times the Word of Wisdom is the first thing that we teach. 

We've gotten a lot of fruit the past few weeks. Apparently it is especially this time of year. People just like to give us fruit! I've eaten a lot of Pomelos, which America doesn't have. It's hard to describe. They are shaped like a pear, and you peel it kind of like an orange. We've also eaten a lot of passion fruit and got some star fruit as well.

Something my companion and I were discussing this week was about people who are atheist. Something that Talmage talks about in Articles of Faith (what my companion has been reading) makes an interesting point. A lot of people think that the religious people must prove the existence of God in order to be right. Talmage makes the point that since the beginning of time, humans have believed in the existence of God. It is a part of our nature to believe in something greater than us. Therefore, among other reasons, Talmage says, it is the responsibility of the atheist to prove the non-existence of God. I thought that was an interesting point. A lot of people use science to claim that God does not exist, but I don't think there is anything science can do to deny the existence of God, simply because of the nature of science itself! I thought that was really interesting.

-When it rains, and I'm trying to keep my stuff dry, I use a plastic bag that you get when you buy a comforter or blanket. It's just a little plastic pouch that is surprisingly waterproof, and it protects my stuff! I just put my stuff in that, and then the whole thing in my bag.

-I bought a Chinese/English Bible. It's super nice, and I'm really excited to be able to use it. I didn't get one in the MTC because they ran out, but now I have one to share Bible verses with people!

-When we read the white handbook in the morning for companionship study, my companion reads in his best George Bush voice.

-My companion had a dream that he was fighting North Korean raptors and I cut a flying bullet with a dagger.

-That have a drink that is just called "juice milk." If you ate trix cereal, and then drank the milk afterwards, that's exactly what this takes like.

I had a good week! I hope you did too!

Elder Richardson

田長老

SISTER RICHARDSON'S WEEKLY LETTER #11 & 12 -- SEPTEMBER 23 & 30, 2013

SISTER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #11

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Everyone,

It's been a lovely lovely week down in the bayou.

Earlier in the week I had a few hours of feeling SUPER overwhelmed.  There are so many goals that we commit to...companionship goals, district goals, zone goals, mission goals, daily goals, weekly goals, mission president weekly goals.  And then there is so little time in the day! We have 3 hours of study in the day, then do an hour of facebook every day and then we have to eat sometime! And see less-actives, investigators, members, former investigators, potential investigators, and be completely obedient and not drive too much so we don't go over our mile limit.  But I guess you just get used to all the expectations and you go out and do your best. And just love people.  So that's what I tell myself and then I am not overwhelmed as much! 

It's interesting how investigators explain experiencing feeling the Holy Spirit.  One lady this week told us that while we were praying, her eyes were closed and she said that everything turned to a light shade of pink.  And to her, that meant that she was happy and things were good and peaceful. 

We go to the library most every day to use the computers for facebook and then to email on p-day.  The other day, it just popped out of my mouth...I ask the librarian if they had a Book of Mormon in the library.  He looked it up and said no.  So I just handed him a Book of Mormon as a donation.  Rockin! Now there's a Book of Mormon in the Kingsland, GA library. 

We had trade-offs this week with the Sister training leaders.  I got to go to Brunswick, GA for a day! It is just farther north on the Georgia coast.  It was way nice getting out of the area for a bit and learning from more experienced missionaries and being able to ask all my questions!  It's funny how there are rules, and then there are the rules that you think are rules, but they're really not rules.  I think somebody comes up with something they like doing..and then as it gets passed down, it is looked at as a rule.  Also I am still finding out about rules that I didn't know about! Like in order to rearrange your morning plans, you have to ask permission from the zone leaders. I also went out to St. Simon's Island right off the coast to visit some people while in Brunswick.  

The other day, we showed up to the church to help out with a wedding reception.  We planned on only being there an hour...but turns out NOBODY was there to help! So S. Spendlove and I ran the food during the reception.  Pretty funny! And I ate boiled peanuts for the first time.  I've seen them advertised all over, but had never tried them. They boil the peanuts in all these delicious spices..usually hot spices.  It was delicious! 

DO YOUR VISITING TEACHING AND HOME TEACHING!!!! We as missionaries see the effects of people not taking that calling and responsibility seriously! We as missionaries are supposed to focus on non-members...but at least in this area we end up focusing on less-actives and members more than we're supposed to to make up for the lack of VT and HT.  You can't bring investigators to church unless it's a church that is taking care of itself and fellowshipping each other.  Our church is organized the way that it is for a reason! It's a divinely inspired system where everyone can be looked out for and not one sheep is lost.  The missionaries can help with that one lost sheep...but have a hard time taking care of the sheep that are lost...in this ward, about 60%! 

I love doing service for people.  My favorite thing EVER! We go into someone's house, see what their needs are, and then go and help them do it.  Service softens and open people's hearts.  I have already seen miracles come from service!  This week some fun service things were folding baby clothes with a 9-month pregnant less-active.  Tutoring a lady in math..she's struggling in her online math course that she has to take to complete her Bachelor's degree.  Hadn't thought about asymptotes and the difference of square and the quadratic equation in a while! 

In church yesterday, I played a piano duet with the Bishop's wife! It was great and the ward loved it and felt the Spirit.  Also, it makes your LIFE when people come to church.  S. Spendlove and I taught Sunday School about eternal families.  I loved telling about my awesome family that is eternal!!! 

One night, we were driving away from an appt, and I got the feeling that we needed to stay and tract in that neighborhood.  So we parked the car and went and talked to a Dad that was playing with his two little girls in the yard.  We started talking to him and he loved talking about religion.  Their family is Baptist...but I think it's a subset, more radical Baptist following.  He talked  our ear off about differences between our beliefs and his beliefs.  It was good to correct some of his misconceptions about Mormons.  Then his wife came out and  invited us inside for dinner! Random, but awesome! They are a cute little family and we talked about religion the whole time. They believe in predestination.  And that there is a set of people that are chosen before we come to Earth to be saved and to believe in Christ.  All the other people that weren't chosen...too bad.  It was really interesting.  After dinner as we kept talking, the environment kind of turned into an argument and the spirit left.  They invited us to come back, but S. Spendlove and I just felt really icky and weird after we left.  We weren't sure why.  We think it's just because the spirit had left.  We are going to go teach them again and see if we can keep the spirit there and hold our own a bit better.  We are not here to convince people of the truth of the gospel! The spirit does that, so you have to have the spirit! 

S. Spendlove is improving! Every Sunday, she kind of comes to a breaking point, but then has an awesome realization and resovles to improve and be better. It's great! Things that I don't want to confront her about, I pray to know how I can best help her.  And then the spirit teaches her about it and she brings up the concern herself.  It is so much more powerful when somebody realizes/learns something on their own rather than you teaching and telling them. 

So here's the best story of the week.  It happened last night (Sunday). S. Spendlove and I are leaving a member's house after having dinner.  We have a voicemail from the ward mission leader and he is asking us if we know how to milk a goat. No joke.  He said that since I was from Arkansas, he figured I would know how.  We told him and said no...but he wanted us to help find someone who knew how.  Because there was a less-active member that had to go out of town for an emergency...and her goats had been left unmilked...not good! So after we got off the phone, the lady whose house we'd just been at...her name popped into my head.  We called her. Asked her if she by any random chance knew how to milk a goat.  She was like don't you know how? She said of course I do, I'm from New Hampshire.  Ha! So we all went out together to milk these goats.  The goats were in pain but were better as soon as they'd been milked.  Then on the way home, this member confessed to us, laughing, that she had never before milked a goat. She said she had milked a cow once...and figured it was the same.  It was hilarious.  But a great story and an adventure! 

I love you all a lot! And I love the people here.   I am already dreading the day when I will be moved to a different area.  Thank you for your prayers and support!

Sister Richardson 

SISTER RICHARDSON'S 

WEEKLY LETTER #12

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

This week has had lots of ups and downs!  We have had some awesome days/moments...but also lots of trial of our faith moments.

Awesome moments:

-Brother and Sister Hamm made us chicken and waffles.  I was skeptical at first....but oh my lanta it was delicious.  It was homemade fried chicken and waffles with this homemade peach syrup....so just like a sweet chicken with breading (the waffles)....I know it sounds gross.  So good.  Then they are both professional musicians and entertained us for a bit on the guitar and singing.  They live in this cute little camping trailer.

-Driving down the road, had a prompting to go visit this less-active lady whose door we have knocked on about 20 times since I've been here with no response...she was there! And we got to finally meet her and teach her!

-For our ward outreach night..we usually only have 5-10 people come.  S. Spendlove and I pulled up to the parking lot that night and there were so many cars! There were about 20 people there!

-Went and visited this sweet, eclectic less-active woman.  She does puzzles in her spare time. So like every night.  We worked on her puzzle with her as we talked.  I had to force myself to stop working that puzzle and leave. 

-Had an awesome spiritual moment with this Catholic lady that cooks for us every Sunday.  I asked her for help in understanding the parable of the labourers in the vineyard that I'd read that morning.  It led to an awesome gospel discussion and the spirit was so strong!

-We were helping this family move.  We packed up the uhaul...but then it was full and we still had two recliners and four mattresses to fit in there.  So I decided we were going to get things done.  I took of my shoes.  And gracefully (as I was in a skirt) climbed up through the stuff to the back of the truck and repacked the whole middle section.  I think women's brains can just pack things better....because there was a whole lot of wasted room.  But we rearranged things and easily fit it all into the uhaul.  It was just a funny site with me crouched up in the back on top of boxes and dressers and everyone listening to me telling them (nicely) how to help me move and repack things. 

-Felt strongly about bearing my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday.  Talked about repentance and giving our burdens to God. 

-I LOVE It when less-actives that you have been working with come to church!!!!!!!! So happy.  And church in general is just so happy.

Not so awesome moments:

-So this one time, I was trying to turn around.  And it was dark.  And I kind of sorta got our car stuck in a ditch.  So I spun the tires for a bit.  Then Sister Spendlove got out and pushed the car while I backed up to try a different angle of getting out.  And we made it.  Our white car was then super dirty nasty.

-It's sad when people reject you! Because you have this awesome gift for them of HAPPINESS and HOPE and LOVE!!!!!  

-We lost our phone.  3 times this week.  Kept leaving it at people's homes.

-People come to church only wanting welfare money.  Then don't care about learning more about the church.  Makes me sad.  Because they dress their kids up in their nicest clothes and bring all of their kids to show their destitute needs.  Wish I had a million dollars!

-Drama in the ward.  And us as kind people that are neutral to it because we love everyone...we end up being the middle man and it's not fun! But I'm pretty sure we saved someone's life Saturday night.  Everyone else had left her to be homeless for the night.  Long story....but whatever her wrongs may be..Christ would not have left her.  So we helped her because we are representatives of Jesus Christ. She wouldn't have lived through the night if we hadn't helped her I am 90% sure.

We are losing our progressing investigators! So we are working on getting more this week! Everyone seems to not have time, but I know that there are people that are prepared and ready to hear this gospel of Jesus Christ and accept it! So we will find those people this week!

Some interesting things I've learned about the church in this area:

-Back in the 50s, two mormon missionaries were hung here in Kingsland....probably with the KKK stuff going on at that time. But they didn't have missionaries here for a while.  But no worries now.  Just interesting.

-They have this devotional down in Jacksonville called the Genesis Devotional.  It has been going on for decades and was originally created/organized by black people when they didn't have the priesthood.  To help each other better understand their role in the church as members without the priesthood.  They still have the devotoinals to this day.  It is open to all church members now, but mainly attracts the African American church members.  They sing more soulful music and have speakers.  We didn't get to go the one last night as it was out of our area...but they are having the next one here in Kingsland in November.  Yay!

Life is good! We are teaching investigators and less-active members all day every day! As well as serving members of the ward and the people we teach. I am my happiest when I am serving others so every day is great! God knows us and is so patient with us! Love you all! Watch conference this weekend! Write down 3 questions before you watch it and you'lll receive answers to them! I will be doing it too!
Sister Richardson

ELDER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #19 -- SEPT 30, 2013

ELDER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #19

SEPT 30, 2013

I haven't quite figured out how to format these letters well yet. But we had a great week this week!

One of our newer investigators is progressing really well. His name is XD, and we usually meet with him on Tuesdays. But, since we usually do exchanges on Tuesdays, Elder Pratt and I haven't had the opportunity to meet with him together yet. To me, this investigator shows me the power of a member referral. His friend is a member in a different ward, but came with him to church yesterday. This friend started to introduce him to the single adults in our ward and sat with him through church. This investigator is awesome. He has been to a lot of different churches, including some Buddhist ones, and he really wants to find out if our church is true and is willing to do all the commitments he needs to in order to give it a fair shot. He's really great!

We're also excited for P. We haven't seen him for two weeks because he has had things come up when we regularly meet with him, so we were really excited that he came to our ward party on Saturday. He also came to church on Sunday! He is a really nice guy, and is always ready to serve other people. He also gave me a pen for my birthday! Recently, he's just been really nervous about baptism because he's worried about the commitment to come to church each week. It's difficult for him to get there because he's lives a long ways away. I think he's feeling better about it, and he'll hopefully have an interview in the next week or so!

It's hard to eat on Sundays here, because we can't go buy stuff during that day, and we don't have time on Saturday to buy food. P-Day is also almost a whole week away. But we almost always have food. Saturday night, as we were coming home from the ward party at the chapel, my bike got a flat tire, so we starting walking for the bus stop. We had just gotten to the bus stop when we saw a less active member that we know driving home from work. This member sells pizzas from the back of her truck in one of the parks in our area. She saw us and stopped to give us two extra pizzas that she had. She said that God told her she needed to make two extra pizzas and she at the time she didn't know why, but she did now! And that's how we got food for Sunday!

Some other things:

-A random person stopped us while we were riding bikes by a park to give us some of the watermelon she had just bought. She said she was Christian and knew that we were doing God's work, so she wanted to help us out!

-Taiwanese are all really good drivers. I don't know why, but somehow they are all just amazing. I don't usually feel that nervous about riding on the streets because the drivers seem to always see us and always stop for us.

-We had some Pizza Hut at the ward party, but it had shrimp and octopus on it. So a little different from America.

-One of our recent converts has been trying to find my facebook account, but he couldn't find it, so when we visited his house, I helped him find it. It was really bizarre to see facebook and really weird to see my account, even for just a few seconds. Just really weird.

-I miss carpet.

-I had a dream in Chinese this past week, and it was cool because in the dream I understood most of what was going on and spoke Chinese as well!

-There's apparently a ginormous rubber ducky that is touring around Taiwan right now. We keep catching glimpses of it on TV screens. It's in the south of Taiwan right now, but maybe we'll see it if it comes up north.

I think that's all I've got for this week!

Add oil!

Elder Richardson

田長老

SISTER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #10 -- SEPT 16, 2013

SISTER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #10

SEPT 16, 2013

Hello all!

Thank you so much my family for all your letters and emails! I love hearing about what's going on at home and opening mail is like Christmas morning every time.  Thanks for the pictures too! They are already up on my wall.  So last week, I ran out of time to write a weekly email...but President Craig changed the rule and we now don't have a time limit for email as long as it's not excessive.  So I'll be writing for last week and this week this time! 

Week of Sept 2-Sept 8:

Got my new trainee this week! It feels like I'm a mother basically.  Training is really scary!  You have to trust in yourself and in God that you're doing what God wants you to do in figuring out to who to see and what to teach every day.  My new companion is Sister Spendlove.  She is from Sandy and is the second oldest of 8 kids.  She did a year at Snow College before coming on her mission.  It was a bit of a culture shock at first for her seeing the lifestyle these people have that revolves around football, smoking, their dogs, and figuring out how to pay the bills.  But she is adjusting and it's cool to see her learning through the Spirit.  I'm figuring out how to lovingly correct...but thank goodness for the spirit because it tells her what she's supposed to do as I lead by example. 

Melissa's Study Area

Okay here are lots of random things again...I'm horrible at doing a sequential order!

-It's always an adventure when we meet diehard African Baptists.  I love them!  Their style of worship is just different than ours.  We met this one lady on her front porch and we were talking to her about the Holy Spirit.  I told her about how the Holy Spirit to me is a feeling of peace and comfort and happiness.  She said "Mmm the Holy Spirit is like that cold water just running down your throat. Into your chest.  Just fillin up your whole body.  And quenchin ya thirst."  Now every time I drink cold water and feel it running down into my stomach...I think of this lady and the Holy Spirit :)  I loved her analogy :)

-I have resolved to know the Bible better! There is so much good stuff in there. I am reading through and studying the New Testament right now and reading corresponding parts in Jesus the Christ.  Also, who knew Ephesians was a gold mine of doctrine! So great.  The people here teach me so much.

-A miracle from the week was a less-active family that we've been trying to visit.  We have gone by so many times to see them, but they aren't home or don't let us in.  But we kept going back and they let us in!  They are so so nice!  The right people were home at the right time and we had an awesome spiritual lesson with them.  There is hope for their reactivation! I'm excited to keep working with them. 

-Sister Spendlove and I were doing our studies at the church one day and this lady knocks on the door of the Relief Society room where we were studying.  She asked if she could rent the cultural hall for a wedding reception.  We told her we'd have to ask and find out.  But in the meantime, we shared the restoration with her and a book of mormon! Tender mercy timing for us all to be there!

-I had a cool missionary experience that I've read about other missionaries having, so it was cool it finally happened to me!  We were driving down a road and this house popped out at me.  I ignored it at first, but then the prompting kept coming back.  So we went and knocked on the door and they were receptive and we're going back to teach them!  Awesome!

-Sometimes, well often times, I get so into missionary work that it becomes an obsession!  I have to make myself plan in an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner and have to keep myself from setting up appointments on our p-day....for the sanity of my companion, and mine as well I'm sure.  I just love always studying the gospel and always doing missionary work and learning more, whether we are in the car driving or sitting down to eat lunch. 

-This week in becoming a trainer, I have felt an endowment of power from God as I have had to rely completely on Him.  Being set-apart as a missionary is a real thing that comes with a specific endowment. 

-They said that in our Kingsland stake, there are enough melchizedek priesthood holders to make another stake.  That validates all of the work that we do with less active members!

-We went to go to service for a lady in the ward with a small farm this one morning, but she was too nice and couldn't let us do anything for her.  She didn't want us to get hot and sweaty and dirty outside.  So she had us brush her horses.  I didn't complain!  I did scoop out the manure in her barn without her permission, but she didn't stop me.  And then we braided the horses tail and manes. Ha!  It was fun.  I french braided the horse's tail.  But as I was braiding it, it lifts up its tail and farts.  Oh man I almost died from the smell.  Wish the horse could have warned me! But I didn't want to make a big deal.  So I just gagged in my mouth, found some fresh air, and stood to the side to finish the braiding.

-I've learned this week to never give up on people!  Christ never gave up on people. So we shouldn't.  We work with people that have been excommunicated, disfellowshipped, are going through their 3rd divorce, went back to smoking after quitting several times....there is never a reason to give up on someone though if we truly strive to love others as Christ loves us.  That is why it is so hard for me to "drop" investigators when they aren't progressing and continuing to read and pray.  Something I'm praying about, to figure out the balance!

Week of Sep. 9-Sep. 15

-I have been called to be a Facebook missionary!  Our mission has been one of the pilot missions for facebook missionaries, so they've been doing it here for about a year already.  They call people to do it after they've been out a while so there is less of a temptation to goof around on fb and talk to people from home.  So here are the rules.  My profile is Sister-Melissa Richardson.  You can add me as a friend.  But we can't really talk on facebook...unless it's something to do with missionary work.  Like you could give me a referral of someone I should message and share the gospel with.  You can comment/like/post things on my profile as long as it's not talking about home and adds to its visibility/gospel conversation.  There is a 4-week training for facebook missionaries, so I"m just starting it.  But with what I've done so far, it's AWESOME! Facebook missionary work is going to be so effective.  With finding and teaching and getting referrals and involving ward members in missionary work.  The whole shebang.  My profile is lacking right now...but I'll be able to spend more time on it this week.  They want us to spend 1hr/day on it, except on Sundays. They had us go in to our regular fb account and deactivate it...man that was probably the most stressed I've been on my mission yet.  I was on the phone with the zone leaders as they were training me.  And I was just hyperventilating and freaking out, feeling like a sinner going on there.  They kept reassuring me that it was okay...haha the squealy little immature teenager in me came out.  But I went on there and saw pictures of things from the real world and posts of people....it was soooo weird!  I saw Stephanie with an Arkansas shirt on her profile pic...but that's all I saw as I quickly clicked to go deactivate my account.  STRESS!!!  It was a bizarre mixing of worlds.  And then I walked into the living room of hte member's house where we were using the computer.  And she's watching the byu football game.  Weird reminder that things are still going on at home.

-So I got pulled over by the police!!  So did the Elders!  We were both leaving the church after teaching class wednesday night.  And the elders, those presh elders, sped out of the parking lot, tires squealing and all!  Of course, just as they did that, a police man pulled into the church parking lot.  Bad timing!! So he pulled them over to see if they were trying to get away from him.  He checked their licenses and all was well when the police saw we were innocent missionaries.  But Sister Spendlove and I were freaking out trying to figure out why the police had pulled over the elders.  So kind of crept around the parking lot, peeking at them trying to figure it out, seeing if they needed help.  Which was a dumb idea.  Because as soon as the police left the elders, we pulled out of the parking lot and he comes and pulls us over! He checks my license and asks a couple questions, told us why he had pulled over the elders...and then sent us on our way.  Bizarre experience! But a funny memory.

-The Holy Ghost keeps us safe!  We go to some sketch places where there have been murders, or where we have heard people shooting pistols (don't need a license in Georgia to own/buy a gun)....but we just follow the spirit and sometimes we feel good about going, and sometimes we get nasty feelings about going...so we just follow what the Spirit says!

-Have you ever tried to teach the restoration to a giddy drunk person? I have! It was funny/interesting.  She was really nice..and wanted to learn more.  I think she felt the spirit...but I'm not sure.  We will try back later and hope that she is sober.

-Okay.  I'm going to call this investigator Anna.  Because we aren't supposed to share names for safety reasons.  But Anna was supposed to get baptized this Sunday.  This is the person that's supposed to have been getting baptized for the last 4 sundays.  But she keeps being called into work on Sunday mornings.  And she has to come to church one more time, so that's why we have to do it on Sunday after church.  But she told us that she got this Sunday off of work. So we planned the whole shebang AGAIN.  But thought it was for real this time.  I had this vision of this baptism being a ward unifying experience and got lots of people involved helping with playing piano, making refreshments, making programs.  I just thought it would be an awesome thing where Anna felt loved and welcomed and the ward felt like they were making a difference.  But then she didn't show up to sacrament meeting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We called her after sacrament meeting and her daughter answered saying that she'd been called into work.  It was a bummer! The worst part was having to tell the ward members that it wasn't happening, especially after they had been announcing it everywhere and had crock pots already plugged in for the big event.  Broke my heart.  I was bummed that it didn't work out.  We went and saw Anna that evening.  And I just love her so much.  This is the lady from Africa that is a friend to all.  She told us that she was so mad that had to go into work and she is planning on quitting her job and finding another job where she doesn't have to work on Sunday.  Which is great that she made that decision on her own.  But hopefully things will all work out eventually.  Last night, I asked Anna questions about African hair braiding because there are places around here that do it...but it's like $150! Anna french braided my hair...it was really sweet of her :) But it's hard bonding with people, knowing I'll be leaving too soon.  Anna is feeding us African food this week.  Also, she gave us 12 referrals!!!! And she is going to visit all of them with us.  Hooray for sharing the gospel and praying with people!

-We were trying to get our investigator, who I'll call Sara, to come to class with us Sunday night.  But this extremely dramatic 68 year old lady couldn't find her keys! We looked for a while with her and couldn't find them.  So we said a prayer to find her keys.  And right away she found them!  It was awesome to have her experience that miracle with us!  But then she never showed up to class.....c'est la vie

-We were teaching another investigator, who I'll call Jessica, the second lesson and she asks us if she can get baptized this Sunday!! It blew us away that she was so willing! We told her that not this Sunday, but in a few weeks she could after we taught her more and she'd come to church a few times.  She came to church this Sunday!

-A super awesome experience this week was going to an investigator's navy pinning ceremony.  They became a chief petty officer which is a big deal I'm learning.  And takes a lot of work and years to get there.  It was awesome that they invited us and wanted us to be there.  It was held in a methodist church and there were lots of navy people in their "fancy" clothes.  I don't know what the right term is for it.  But it was just an awesome ceremony with oaths and pledges and then family members pinning on the anchor pins to their lapel. Made me kinda sorta want to be in the navy...but I can't really picture that at all! But this ward member here who is a lieutenant is trying to talk me into being a psychologist for the navy...telling me about all the benefits and such.  Ha! We'll see...but probably not.  Can't picture myself throwing a grenade without screaming and covering my ears.  I may or may not have bought some Navy-esque jewelry there at the shop...

-D&C 6:28

-My two month mark went by without me even noticing it.  They say time gets going faster.  And the second month went by a lot faster than the first month!

-I like getting up at the morning at 6:30, knowing that the 70,000 other missionaries are doing the same thing...at least the ones in my time zone of the earth. 

-I've fallen in love with the Ensign every month.  Maybe because our reading material is limited...but oh my goodness, it is so good.  Never realized what a gem it is.  I could spend a whole month studying it....okay not that long, but I just really like it. 

Love you all! Go change the world!
 
Sister Richardson 

ELDER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #17 -- SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

ELDER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #17

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

We had a great week this week! The problem I always have is that when I get to Monday, I don't remember everything that has happened! I write it down in my journal, but after that I forget it!

Last week, on P-Day, we went to 楊明山 (yang2 ming2 shan1) which is the mountain between us and another area. We took a bus mostly all the way to the top, and then it was an easy hike to get the rest of the way. The pictures I am sending are from that day.

On Friday, we had an outdoor zone conference with our zone and the two next to ours. It was a really neat experience. As we climbed a mountain, we stopped along the way and had various trainings and activities. It was a pretty tough hike during the last part. When we got to the top, I looked around and realized that it was the same mountain that we had come to on Monday! It was weird.

Mountains in Taiwan are really different from Utah. These mountains are pretty tall, but are just covered in green. There was no tree line that I could see. Look at the pictures I'm sending. The top of this mountain was just all grassland. They even had cows! (The Taiwanese in our group really liked the cows - I don't know why.) It was really neat!

We were tracting in donghu area, and somebody let us in so we started knocking all of the doors. We rang one guy's door, and he started opening the door. As soon as he saw that we were missionaries, he closed the door again, even though we were in mid-sentence. That is an exception for Taiwan, and I'm glad I'm not in a place where that happens all the time!

Our agency is a wonderful gift from our Heavenly Father, and we all choose to express it a little differently in this life. All we missionaries can do is invite people to learn! Many people don't want to listen, but that doesn't stop us from doing it! Missionary work is awesome!

I went on an exchange this week with Elder Cranney, one of our Zone Leaders. His style of missionary work is VERY different from my companion Elder Pratt, but it's cool because they are both right! The Lord wants us to do missionary work our own way, and it should be very individual. That is what He has called me to do, to be me, just a missionary version of me. This is what Elder Cranney and I discussed in our evaluation. Every missionary has to develop their own "style." That's what I've been thinking about this week. What's my style?

I've been thinking about this especially because of our plans for this week. Tomorrow I go on an exchange with a missionary who is a transfer younger than me. So it'll be up to me to lead everything and get things done. I guess this is how Melissa feels! So I'm a little stressed and pretty excited!

We went and revisited the G. family last night. We first met them two weeks ago. When we first got there, the mom didn't want to let us in. She tried to give the Book of Mormon back, saying that she just wanted to keep being Buddhist. But then, to be polite, they asked if we had eaten yet (that's a normal thing). When we said that we hadn't (because it was Sunday night and we didn't have much food in the apartment, they welcomed us in and had us eat with them. Mostly we were just friendly with them, but at the end we shared some more about the Restoration. Before we left, the husband emphasized to us that we were welcome to come back. So we're going to take some food to them next week!

That's all for this week!

田長老

SISTER RICHARDSON PICTURES FROM WEEK #9

SISTER RICHARDSON PICTURES 

WEEK #9

G. and her family

Ready to change the world with our homemade bread!

Sister Spendlove fresh from the MTC!

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #17

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #17

SEPT 8, 2013

A week that was back to normal! And we had a lot of success this week!

- Last week, on Monday, us missionaries in Neihu went on an adventure to Costco. They have Costco here! It's apparently pretty recently built and it seems to be doing really well. Everybody in Neihu knows about it and they like going there. It's a very "American" store. Imagine Sam's Club in a slightly smaller space, but with two floors. And filled with lots of American food! I've been eating Einstein Bros. bagels this week; it's a little strange! It's illegal in Taiwan to have food that is labeled as "healthy," so all of foods from America have black sharpie covering up all of the "healthy" claims. 

- On Thursday, we went to a part of our area that we don't usually go to. We had a few appointments that fell through, so we decided in our next three hours we were going to find 8 new investigators and place 5 BoMs while going "contracting." "Contracting" is just contacting and then occasionally going tracting when we feel like we need to. There's also a "contracting" dance.

Anyway, our plans for what we wanted to get done were not what the Lord wanted us to get done! We find and talked to probably 8 people, but most of them were for other areas of the mission. As my mission president would say, "Score for Team Jesus!"

- We had a really great day Saturday. We met with Zhang DiXiong, who we started meeting with when I first got here. He's a really nice guy and he only talks to us in English, but his English is really good. Whenever he answers the phone, he says "Hello my friend." We had a really great lesson, and at the end he said that he thinks he's ready to be baptized! He also came to church yesterday! We're super excited for him, and we think he'll have his baptismal interview this weekend. It's been really neat to see him change from visit to visit. Something I'm learning very quickly is that conversion does not happen while the missionaries are there. It's something that is uniquely between the investigator and God, and it happens while they are reading or praying in between the lessons. We see the most growth in faith between visits when they have been reading the Book of Mormon! 

- I was thinking this week about what a bizarre thing it is that I am doing. Stopping people on the street, trying to tell them about a guy named Joseph Smith, and trying to get them to take a book that they've never seen before and read it! If I didn't know it was true, if it wasn't truly The Lord's work, I don't think I could do it! 

- We went to a big hospital in our area and gave an elderly man a priesthood blessing. It was different doing it in Chinese, and I didn't fully understand all the words that I read off the card, but I could still feel God's power administering to this man through me. It was a cool experience.

- Chinese people get their l's and r's mixed up. We Americans think they are really different, but to the Taiwanese, they are basically the same sound.

- One of the guys who regularly comes to our English class randomly had a University of Arkansas shirt on! Apparently he went there once!

- I've learned a couple of phrases in Taiwanese. It's a really strange language and is kind of similar to Chinese but also completely different. There's no adequate way to describe how this language sounds. There is no written language and I have no idea how I would write it here.

- Because we ride bikes, we blur the lines between car and pedestrian, so whenever we are on the road and switch to the crosswalk or sidewalk, we say (in our best deep transformers voice) "pedestrian mode" and then switching back say "car mode."

- We had a jackhammer in our apartment building for a few days this week.

- Because a lot of our potential investigators have the same last names here (everybody here is Lin or Chen or Li), we come up with nicknames in order to remember who they are and where we talked to them. Recently we've had Lin Buff Kid, Li Bow Tie, and Zhang Popped Collar.

That's all for this week!

Elder Richardson

田長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #8 -- SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #8

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

 

Melissa didn't have enough computer time to write down everything she wanted to last week so sent a snail mail letter.  We then typed it up.

9-3-13

Weekly letter

Hello!  It’s been a great week here in the South with lots of BBQ aromas and empty beer bottles for this Labor Day weekend.  Here’s a smattering of weekly highlights:

·      Transfers are this Wednesday (9/4).  35 new missionaries coming in.  They are opening 9 new areas for sisters – like putting sisters in wards that usually just have elders.  There will probably be that many more with next transfer in October.  They also are creating a new zone this transfer and another one the next transfer.  Only 3-4 missionaries complete their mission and thus go home every transfer.  Exponential growth!  Also, the mission is short on cars with all the growth and the mission is not getting more until the end of September. The elders unanimously voted to give up their cars to any sister companionships that would be without one.  This is incredible to me because they are going to be biking for a whole month . . . and these are huge areas around here . . . lot of miles between everything.

·      How do I motivate Young Men to do missionary work? Ideas?

·      We went to a trainer training meeting this past week.  It was awesome and a necessary experience for me.  It was humbling to realize what a huge responsibility and trust the Lord is giving me.  I learned good things about how to lovingly correct and support new missionaries.  I had a very strong spiritual experience at the end when President Craig was bearing his testimony.  The Spirit taught me and I felt so strongly how much Heavenly Father loves this sister that I will be training!! It was incredible~  I don’t know why God gave me that experience . . . maybe if she will have a really hard time adjusting or maybe it will not be easy training, but I do know that God has called me to train someone specific and we will be together for a reason.  I pray for this sweet sister every day as she’s been in the MTC.  I am so excited to meet her tomorrow and introduce her to the awesomeness and the joy that is missionary work that spiritual experiences made me understand what being a mom will be like – how God will entrust me with souls that He loves so much and will trust me to raise and teach and love.  Cool stuff!

·      So people here for the most part work 40 hours/week minimum wage jobs.  So at the end of the month, people are out of money, out of gas, out of food.  We experienced something similar with our miles.  So we are allowed 1200 miles a month.  Which might sound like a lot, but it’s not!  With people all over, we could drive 100 miles/day easily.  But everyday we have to plan carefully and go to an area and stay there for a while, seeing people stay there for a while, seeing people in the same area for that day.  So, sisters in the past didn’t really care about going over miles and would have 1500-1600 a month, justifying it with us having a big area.  But Sister Hutchins and I want 100% obedience so we worked hard and planned well and stayed one mile under our limit.  It was hard and frustrating at times, but it felt so good when we achieved that goal.  And obedience brings blessings!  And we pray for people we know to be blessed every day.  So it’s worth it.

·      When we went to Jacksonville, I was a little shell shocked at the big freeways and tall buildings and shopping centers.  I didn’t realize how small St. Mary’s/Kingsland is.  There aren’t a lot of store options.  And you drive a ways through lots of green and two-lane roads to get to different places.

·      One day we went to the library to watch some training videos on the computers.  In those 2 hours, we helped so many people on the computers!  With simple things like how to delete more than one email message or how to close an internet tab or how to print powerpoint slides.  It’s funny when nobody seems to know how to use a computer.

·      In a district meeting, they were talking about having members do family history work.  Somebody said “You should get off Facebook and go save a soul!”  Haha, I was amused, mostly because it is true.

·      We might as well be in China because we don’t drink the water here.  Nobody does.  We buy jugs of water at the store.  The water isn’t unsanitary, but tastes like a mix of algae and frog slime.  Swampy water for the win.  So I can’t order water at the restaurants because I gag.  So lemonade it is for me.

·      Picture these moments and with the quotes you must read them with a thick Southern accent for you to really be there.

o   At the town famous southern BBQ food truck, asking what they would recommend to order, “Mmm that potato salad is just mmm, like nothing else.  You can just taste the love they put into it when they make it”.

o   At a gas station buying water, a man keeps looking at us as we’re checking out.  As we finish, he says “Now y’all don’t be offended or nothing, but y’all look like a bunch of church girls” Haha – we enjoyed telling him that we actually were church girls and who/what church we represent.

o   Talking to an investigator’s husband, an old black man.  We asked his name and he matter-of-factly responded – “ My name be Howard, but no one calls me that.  Err’one call me Bo Dilly.  Err’ since I graduated high school, I decided I din wawna be call Howard no more.  So err’one call me Bo Dilly.

Us: Can we call you Bo Dilly then?

Bo Dilly: Why o’course! I woon respond to nuttin else.”

Wow, so glad I didn’t end this life without meeting a real life Bo Dilly in St. Mary’s, GA! Boo Radley anyone?

·      I had some more delicious Filipino food last night at a member’s home!

·      Ward members mumble in the pews that they think his singing sounds like Kermit the Frog. Ha! I mean they are kind of right.  But mostly he just has a legit operatic tenor voice that I think is beautiful.

·      So, it’s hard realizing that Sister Hutchins won’t be here anymore to help me know what to do or who to see.  A bit humbling and overwhelming. Also, just because we are set-apart missionaries does not mean Satan can’t still try to bring us down.  In fact, he’s probably working double time.  For about two days last week, I wasn’t feeling the Spirit as much and was just kind of down and overwhelmed and having doubts about most everything and not being very mentally motivated.  But I realized that it wasn’t me being inadequate or unworthy, it was the adversary trying to hinder me from being a fantastic missionary and from having the enthusiasm that this message of love and happiness deserves.  I had an awesome prayer experience at the end of those two days where I felt like the dust of the earth.  I prayed to my Father and told Him that I was nothing without Him.  I was physically, mentally and spiritually weak without Him and without the Holy Spirit.  I invited the Spirit to be with me always. And ever since then it has been and things have been bright and lighter.  We are promised that we can always have the Holy Spirit with us, but that will only happen if we are humble and do our part.  We can’t just expect heavenly guidance at the drop of a hat if we are not inviting it and doing all we can to live a lifestyle where it feels welcome and at home.

I know that God exists and loves us.  And cares about us individually. Go have an awesome prayer experience! And read Alma 26:35!

Love,

Sister Richardson