APRIL 22, 2014 -- ELDER RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #48

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #48

APRIL 22, 2014

I never know how to start these emails. Usually I just say that it's been a good week, and it has. I almost always feel good about the week when it's Monday and we have a couple of hours to rest. And right now I feel particularly good. We are emailing a little later today because one of the sisters' investigators who is super rich took us out to a two-hour Japanese high-class all-you-can-eat restaurant. It was SOO good, and all of us feel SO stuffed. This area is ridiculous; I have been fed so much food here.

Elder Farrell really likes ice cream, just like me, so about 4 or 5 times a week, we'll finish eating lunch or dinner and one of us will say, "I feel like ice cream." The other one will inevitable concur. And then we drag Elder Wilson with us to the nearest 7-Eleven and get some ice cream. I think I could continue this pattern for the rest of my mission without complaint.

Thursday, one of the members of the Asia Area Presidency came to do a mission tour. We had a conference at Temple Square with our zone and another zone. They had a lot of great things to share. We all read 1 Nephi 1 together and discussed how we can help our investigators with reading it for the first time. Then as districts we put together a 3 minute "trailer" skit for 1 Nephi 2-5. The most hilarious one performed was by the senior couples. It was a fun conference and it was great to hear from our Asia Area Leader!

Elder Wilson (the Asia Area presidency guy, not my companion Elder Wilson) said that he saw a study which showed that Chinese is 4x harder to learn than any Latin-based language. 

We had stake conference on Sunday, and one of the speakers there told a cool story. I'll rewrite it here, but just be warned I'm trying to translate it and my English has regressed a LOT.

A man asked his wife, "Do I have any weaknesses?"

She said, "You have a lot actually, kinda like there are many stars in the night sky."

Then he asked, "Do I have any strengths?"

She said, "You have very few, kinda like there is only one sun in the sky."

He then asked, "So why do you still love me?"

She said, "Because when the sun rises and shines brightly, I can no longer see the stars."

(Maybe somebody can proofread that before reposting..)

We had a really cool miracle this week. Two weeks ago, we knocked an LA's door and luckily, he was home! We got to know him a little and set up a time to come back and visit with his whole family. So we called him before we went to visit next week, but he had forgotten and rescheduled. This happened two more times, where he would reschedule right before we were about to go. But then on Saturday, he confirmed that he would be there. When we got there, his girlfriend was also there. We started to share with him and then she came over and started listening. By the end, she was asking us questions and gladly accepted a Book of Mormon and said she would read it. So the fourth time was the charm, when we would be able to share with her too!

I learned this week that the Angel Moroni on the Taiwan Taibei Temple is a little bit different. Almost every Angel Moroni faces east, to face the rising sun. But Taibei is different. The Angel Moroni here faces Mainland China, so represent that Taiwan will open the doors to the gospel being preached in China!

Have a good week! Add oil!

Elder Richardson

任長老

 Outside of the all you can eat restaurant we went to today. Mama Wu is the one in the pink, and the sister's investigator Brother Wang is the one not dressed like a missionary in the middle.

 A picture from one of the Sunday night dinners that we have every week. The foreigner on the far left is our ward mission leader.