SISTER RICHARDSON'S WEEKLY LETTER
DECEMBER 30, 2013
It's been a great week! We had fun celebrating Christmas and we also got to spend a lot of time signing this week, which was great!
On
Monday, we went to eat dinner at a deaf members' home and they had two
of their friends there to be taught! Best day ever! This member family
is part hearing, part deaf. During the prayer, the mom started yelling
at the dog to be quiet and the dad (deaf) who was saying the prayer
never even noticed. Sis. Sullivan and I, the only other hearing people
there were trying not to laugh. But we taught our first lesson in sign.
And it was rough. We both froze. It was a good wake-up call for us
to know we need to practice the lessons more! We are fine in
communicating with deaf people...we just need to be better with the
lesson sequences.
I had a trade-off on Christmas Eve and went to
Julington Creek for a day with one of our Sister Training Leaders. It
was a very wealthy Jacksonville suburb...a lot different from anywhere
that I've served on my mission so far. When we were in Julington Creek,
I started feeling sorry for myself as I started thinking about all the
fun things that were going on at home with the Christmas season. But
then we went and visited this lady whose son is on a mission. She was
missing him so much. So I just decided to stop having my pity party and
just serve her. So I jumped in there and helped her do her holiday
baking and got her mind off her son. I got her laughing and cheerful.
By the end, she found out that I wasn't permanently staying in
Julington Creek and she was so sad. Serving others is the solution for
anything!
Facebook missionary work is great! I've kept
teaching an investigator in my last area. And we've gotten a new
investigator over facebook. It's a teenage girl who wants to learn more
about the gospel, but she doesn't think her parents would let us in the
house. So we are teaching her on facebook!
Christmas day was fun!!! We went and had a huge
breakfast with a several families in the ward. And then we went to the
house of another family and got to skype home! I was super nervous to
call home...I was shaking. I was afraid I was going to break down
crying or hate being on a mission after I called. But I just said a
prayer and it was great! It was so good to see everyone and hear your
voices and see that the house still exists and the family is doing well
and is happy! Don't tell Benjamin, but he is so tall! Is he taller than
Joseph now?
Christmas night we ate with this sweet family. They
made us a huge breakfast feast as well! Lots of bacon on Christmas day.
People around here give the best gift--gift cards!! You should see my
wallet....there's about 10 of them in there. Hello eating out!
I did my 750 piece puzzle in less than a week. Just
by working on it a bit every morning during breakfast and a bit every
night after daily planning/before bedtime. It was so fun. Puzzles just
make my brain happy.
We are working with a great recent convert family.
We are helping one of them overcome her smoking relapse. I really
enjoy it! It's fun to help them progress. We had a fire with them the
other night in the backyard. And I told them about banana boats and
they thought it was so cool, they ran inside and grabbed the stuff to
make it and we had banana boats!
So we have surpassed our mile limit for this
month...it's hard sharing a car with two areas (2 sets of sisters). A
lot more ground to cover! 2 wards worth. So we have been biking.
Skirts were not made for biking. But somehow we've done it. Although I
don't enjoy biking down the highway with cars all around me. And I
don't enjoy biking at night.
We went and ate with this AWESOME deaf family on
Thursday. They have two adopted kids (one from Thailand and one from
Guatemala) who are both deaf as well. They are so GREAT! The 11 year
old is obsessed with Michael Jackson. And can tell you how old Michael
Jackson was when you were born. And can tell you all about Michael
Jackson's siblings and family. And how Michael Jackson died.
Everything in life relates to Michael Jackson for him. They are such a
great family. We had fun talking with them and giving our lesson about
missionary work.
Thank you for the 2nd christmas package I got!
Packages and letters always seem to come at the right time...always when
I need a pick me up.
So this past Sunday, I
taught the combined Relief Society/Priesthood 3rd hour about hastening
the work/missionary work. Somehow I got singled out of all the
missionaries to teach it. I prepared it in like 30 minutes on Saturday.
And so just went up there and just had fun with it and followed my
scribbled lesson plan. And it went well! It was fun! There are some
great video clips about member missionary work on hasteningthework.lds.org.
I'm loving the deaf sunday school more and more
every week. I am getting better at my comprehension and at
participating in the class. I'm still a bit oblivious to deaf culture
though. So the teacher asks us all to get a paper and a pencil from off
the table. So I decide to be helpful and pass out all the papers and
pencils to everyone. But because I did that, I had my back turned to
the teacher. So he is explaining what to write on the paper and
apparently he and the rest of the class was laughing at me at how I was
so oblivious to needing to SEE, not hear the directions. So then I sit
back down and he looks at me and signs are you ready? what's the answer?
And I just stare at him. It was really funny. I'm learning! Amazing
how much we depend on hearing and we don't even realize it!
Last night, we ate with another part deaf/part
hearing family. Fun! So S. Sullivan and I shared a poem called the touch
of the master's hand...the one about the violin and the auction. The
deaf family member just lip read it, so we didn't sign it. But then the
deaf family member took the poem and signed it for us. Oh my goodness
it was incredible. It brought the Spirit like nothing else. English
has so many words that we use to be fancy and pretty and as
filler/connecting words. In ASL, it's so simple and you sign only the
necessary words like nouns/verbs and then the rest is filled with body
language and emotion. I have a testimony of ASL storytelling!
I found a family in the ward that I am related to! We have the same great-great grandpa! (Charles Edmund Richardson).
Happy new year! Hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!
Sister Richardson
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