ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #72 -- OCT 6, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #72

OCTOBER 6, 2014

We saw a lot of miracles in contacting this week! On Monday, we met Helen. She is from England, studying her Master's Degree here. We met her with her two friends, and she was really curious about our church. She said she felt like she was too young to really be sure about the nature of God, and wanted to know where our conviction comes from. She came to do a chapel tour with us on Thursday, and asked a LOT of questions. We are really excited for her!

On Wednesday, we met with James and his fiancee. He took us out to lunch again. It was cool to meet his fiancee and teach a little about the Godhead. We are still not really sure what James is hoping to get out of our lessons, but he is still willing to listen to us, so we will just keeping sharing the gospel!

On Friday, we went to go visit the Silva family. We did some service by folding boxes, sweeping, and washing some dishes while they made us pizza. Then we sat, and shared a short message. They have been out of the church for a long time, but Brother Silva knows that they need to go back, it's just hard to make the decision to give up work on Sunday. We are going to get them to come to the temple and do a chapel tour next week, which we are excited for!

I love reading the scriptures in another language. It all has the same meaning, but the way that things are expressed in Chinese is a little bit different, so it makes me think about the scriptures differently. I've been reading in the New Testament recently, and it's been really cool to rediscover the stories told in a different way!

We met with Eric, a guy from Delaware. He was kind of like Helen, in that he asked a LOT of questions. It's always easier to teach people not lessons when the people talk and ask questions! He said he wants to meet with us again, and come to church again next week!

Our Mongolian investigator Jaagie is doing really well. She was feeling sick so she couldn't meet with us and only came to Sacrament Meeting, but we're praying for her and I think she'll be doing better soon!

The problem with watching General Conference a week late is that there are all sorts of spoilers in emails or in Fast and Testimony meeting..

We taught Gospel Principles class again this week. The teacher didn't show up, so we didn't some unplanned teaching by the Spirit!

My companion and I are working on learning some Taiwanese. It's not really that useful unless you are talking to old people in Taiwan, but it's really fun to speak! :)

That's all for this week!
Add oil!

Next time I write I'll be one year older!

Elder Richardson
任淳楷長老

Hyrum with Brother Hackey -- whom we knew in Shanghai when we lived there 11 years ago.

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #64: SEPT 30, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Hello world! Life is still good here in St. John's, Florida.

I have been learning a lot from Sister Hall as my companion! She is a
hard worker and is not satisfied with mediocrity in anything! She is
always making goals on how we can improve our teaching and finding and
member work. Having someone with a fresh view of the area and the
people is so valuable as we can more clearly see what is working and
what isn't and adjust accordingly. This area is lucky to have her!
Hopefully she'll stay for a while!

A highlight of the week was our zone conference on Tuesday where Elder
Golden of the Seventy came and spoke to us. He was doing a mission
tour. It's amazing how every general authority is so different in
personality, but they are all devoted disciples of Christ--you can
always sense that. He taught us so many different things, I could
never write them all in this letter. He let us ask questions! He
talked to us about setting goals, finding and teaching, the gift of
discernment... Here are some of my notes from the meeting:
-our expectations are low and we live far below our privileges.
-Follow that first thought that comes into your mind...that is the Holy Ghost
-he testified of Joseph Smith and told us to never be apologetic in
sharing that message
-elder Golden is a scriptorian! He has helped with revisions of the
scriptures and knows them so well. He read us scriptures in
Revelations, Moses, and the Book of Mormon that blew me away as he
explained what they meant.
-he reminded us about being reverent in the chapel!
-his wife spoke about 4 types of enduring: enduring temptation,
enduring chastening, enduring afflictions, and enduring in faith to
the end. She reminded us that the better our attitude, the better our
mission will be.

We did a lot of pounding the pavement finding this week with tracting
and talking to everyone. We were able to teach several first lessons
and get some new investigators! We found some new places to go, since
I am going a little crazy in the 4 subdivisions that makes up the bulk
of our area. There are lots of people out there in the world that are
prepared to hear this gospel message! The field is definitely white.
The harvest can be a tricky and stressful process, but is always worth
it in the end.

I loved seeing the Spirit change Brother Horton this week. He came to
church for the first time this last Sunday in probably 20-30 years. We
went to his house a few days later for a lesson and he was changed. I
saw a genuine smile from him for he first time since I've known him.
He even laughed and was joking around with us! He opened up and said
church had brought back a lot of memories of him blessing the
sacrament and baptizing his children. It was so great! It was a
beautiful reminder that it is the spirit and the gospel of Jesus
Christ that changes and converts people, not their relationship with
us.

A fun blessing this week was going on a 3 hour power trade off with
Sister Hutchins who was my trainer back in Georgia for my first
transfer! Wow! It was cool to reflect back and see how much we had
each changed in the past year! We laughed at our naïveté and timidity
back in those early mission days. She asked me something that I'd
learned in the past year. There were too many things to name, but I
told her that one of things I've learned is that this work is not
us...we are privileged to be a part of the Lords work and to
facilitate and set the stage for the spirit and our Savior and
Heavenly Father to convert and love people. I also told her that as
I've served my Savior and learned more about the gospel, I have
realized even more how much more I have to learn and also how forever
indebted we are to the Savior! I am even more in debt after having
this experience of a mission. Of having this opportunity to be
painfully molded into a better disciple of Christ. And I still have a
long way and a lot of molding left to go!

The women's broadcast this Saturday night was fabulous! All of the
talks and video presentations were great. My favorite talk was
definitely President Uchtdorf's at the end. We had an investigator and
the Luna's there!

On Sunday, Sister Luna got sustained and set apart for her calling! Wooo!

Today it was raining when we were going to wash our car, so we just
put in our rain jackets and soap bucket and just washed it in the rain
:)

Find, teach, and baptize! :) Have a lovely week!
Sister Richardson

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #71 -- SEPT 29, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #71

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Last Monday, for P-Day, we went to Dairy Queen again. It'll probably be the last time because it was so expensive, but it was really delicious. Then we went to a members house and had Chicken Chalupas just like Mom makes them! I ate way too much.

On Tuesday, we met with James. He took us to lunch and we talked about the Book of Mormon. He had a number of concerns about horses and the size of the gold plates and other things like that, but we encouraged him to keep reading and praying about it, and he's willing to keep meeting with us. In the middle of the lesson he told us "I think you two would make really good Catholics" to which we said "We think you would make a great Mormon!" He's a nice guy, and it's really fun to talk with him. Maybe in the future we will go to a Mass with him so that he will come to our church meeting with us!

On Wednesday, we went up the mountain to visit the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency who is a 外國人 (foreigner). He used to be Bishop of the English ward, and we sat down with him for a long time and went through every single name on the list. That will help us with finding Less-Active members a lot! We want to try and contact every single one, and invite them all to come back! Facebook has been really helpful so far. Some people might be too busy to answer the phone, but they will usually see a Facebook message!

While we were there, Elder Wilson tried a Jalapeno pepper...and he almost died. Elder Wilson can't eat anything spicy, even though his hair is flaming red. It was really funny.

On Friday, we went on exchanges. So I went back to a Chinese speaking area where I noticed how much my Chinese has regressed! Actually, it wasn't too bad, it just took a little bit of speaking to get comfortable again. It was fun to be with a native companion again for a day.

Saturday there was a ward baptism for an 8-year-old in the ward. There were a lot of people who came, and his parents invited one of their non-member friends to come. Afterwards, the ward had a Chili Cook-off and a line dancing party! We couldn't do any of the line dancing, but the chili was good! I haven't had chili in a long time!

Our investigators are doing really well. Sis Williams and Sasha will start the lessons in Chinese with some sister missionaries near where they live this week. The whole family came to the ward social, and had a good time. They didn't make it to church, but they did set up for next Saturday, hopefully at the home of the people who referred them. They are coming slowly, but surely! 

Jaagie, our Mongolian investigator, is doing even better. We met with her on Saturday and discussed baptism, then she attended the ward baptism for one of the kids in the ward, and then she came to the whole ward social! She started asking questions about when she could get baptism, and her experience in church was better than the last two weeks. She progressed a lot this week; I think she's really excited about baptism!

That's it for this week!

Add oil!
Elder Richardson

任淳楷長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #63 -- SEPT 23, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON

SEPT 23, 2014

Well I have a new companion, Sister Hall, and she is great! Just on
our way home from the transfer meeting, the member who was driving us
discovered that a missionary she had been close to when she had lived
in Wales was Sister Halls sister in law. Crazy! But sister hall is
very hard working and obedient and outgoing! She is good at being bold
with people and not being intimidated. So she covers up some of my
weaknesses. So I am excited for this next transfer!

We had a great Book of Mormon reading time with Sister Luna and her
girls this week. They gave us their next question and we gave them
another Book of Mormon chapter to read. We also taught them about
family history later in the week and helped them get started putting
in information into family search. I even got one of the daughters to
start doing it too. I bribed her with a note and CD that Sister
Merchant had left for her. Also, sister Luna got a calling on Sunday!
So exciting! She came and told me but said she couldn't remember what
the calling was for, because she was so nervous and excited. She knew
it had something to do with relief society so we went and asked the
relief society president and she said sister Luna will be on the
activities committee. So excited for her!

On her first night here, sister hall invited a less active man who
hasn't been to church in years to come to church. He said he couldn't
because he had to do yard work at home. Sister hall offered for us to
come help him with it on Saturday. He said no and said he'd be there
Sunday. We loved having him at church yesterday.

Montee brought her two girls for all 3 hours of church yesterday! And
Crystal brought her mom! Yay! One of Montees daughters wants to be in
the primary program next week and so her primary teacher took her all
the songs yesterday after church.

We had a fun relief society activity and ward social this week. Sister
hall got to meet lots of the members before church on Sunday. At the
ward party, they had everyone play "speed friendshipping" which was
like speed dating, but not dating. There were all these note cards
with get to know you questions on them and you had about one minute to
ask the questions as well as to respond to them yourself. It was fun!

We were walking down a road tracting yesterday and this dad and their
two kids were practicing knife throwing! We went and talked to them
and I found out some cool things about that "sport."

I had an online miracle this week. On Monday, I started talking to
this girl that I was friends with that I hadn't talked to before. She
is in England and said she'd added a bunch of missionaries as friends
to see what it was all about and was interested in learning more. So
I've been able to teach her this week! She was so excited to know that
there is a prophet today! We had a member from our ward that is also
from England get on Facebook at the same time and help us teach the
restoration to her. We found the church near her and she said she'd
go! I'll have to check on Facebook later to see if she did. Pretty
amazing! She is very prepared for the gospel!

Also, we went back to those Chinese people we had met. And I gave them
a Chinese Book of Mormon. Elder Bao had written his testimony in it.
They thought it was really cool! They started asking me where the
church was and how to get there,..I didn't know how to explain that in
my limited vocabulary. So I called elder bao and had him explain it to
them. He said their accent sounds like they're from Taiwan! I also
gave them the Chinese restoration pamphlet that Hyrum had sent me in
the mail, they liked that too! But wanted to know which meetinghouse
was the one here...but those were all the Taipei ones! We went back a
few days later and the daughter was home and she spoke English and
said they already found a church. But I gave them he first 3 lesson
pamphlets in Chinese anyway. And the grandparents still seem
interested. So we'll go back with a member that speaks Chinese and try
to teach them. Elder bao wrote out the pinyin and characters for a
few phrases. And then he gave me the mandarin missionary language
booklet. I won't have much time to study it, but at least I could
figure out how to bear my testimony to them and pray. So it's an
adventure!

Hope you are all doing well and preparing yourselves spiritually for
conference! We are so blessed to have the knowledge of a living
prophet today!

Sister Richardson

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #70: SEPT 22, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #70

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

This will be a shortish email. ..because I forgot to write down stuff that happened. But I'll do better next week!

Our Mongolian investigator Jaagie is doing really well. She was a referral from Neihu (my first area), and she came to church for the first time last week. She really loved it and the Relief Society just scooped her up and loves her. She came to church for the second time and we taught her the first lesson on Saturday. She really enjoyed the lesson, and we also got to hear some Mongolian! I'm glad I'm not learning that language...it sounds hard...she came to church again on Sunday and thought it was great!

The Williams family we have been teaching is doing great. It's been a new experience for me and Elder Wilson to try and teach a whole family together, including some small children. But we are going to keep planning and hopefully get better at it! We are also going to ask the sister missionaries in the area that they live to do follow up visits in Chinese for the mother and daughter.

James is someone we met on the street and had lunch with once a few weeks ago, but we weren't sure if he was really interested in learning more. But last Thursday we got a facebook message where he said something like: "I read all of the chapter summaries in the book you gave me. When can we meet again?" So we are really excited to meet with him tomorrow!

On Wednesday, our whole zone had our outdoor zone conference! So we all went on a hike up a mountain and received some training on the way. It was pretty fun! Pictures attached!

I met a fellow Arkansan! He was from North Little Rock, and is studying at the university here. That's a first for me I think!

A cool idea that I heard in our Gospel Principles class. There is one scripture about Jesus Christ from the age of 12-30, and it says this:

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52)
Our teacher mentioned that during that time, Christ grew intellectually (wisdom), physically (stature), spiritually (favor with God), and socially (favor with man). So all four of these areas are really important to us, and we have to find the right balance between all of them!

Have a good week!

Elder Richardson

任淳楷長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #62: SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON:  SEPT 17, 2014

Well we had a shock yesterday when sister merchant was named to be
transferred to Gainesville! Usually they transfer the missionary
that's been in an area longer but not this time. I'll miss her lots!
My new companions name is Sister Hall. Don't know much about her! But
I think missions teach you to get along with anyone so it will be just
fine. I was thinking I would be transferred so I was sad about all the
things I would miss, but now I get to be here for them!

We set a baptism date with Montee for October 11th! Hooray! So next
transfer we will have at least two baptisms and a wedding, it's going
to be great!

A highlight if the week was stake conference! They were such spirit
filled meetings. I played piano for a musical number with all the full
time missionaries singing an arrangement of we'll bring he world his
truth. And one of the best parts was Kelley (recent convert) sharing
her conversion stor and sharing her testimony as one of the speakers!
It was amazing! I also LOVEd seeing all of the people that I love from
the st. Augustine shores ward. I especially loved seeing the deaf
people and signing with them and catching up on their lives with them.
Setth just entered the MTC this week to serve an ASL mission in
Anaheim, CA. They still don't have a piano player at all in that ward,
so I told them I'd just move back there in a couple years :) I miss
signing!

We had a lot of finding success this week as we've tried to better
teach when we find. It works! I gave a training on that topic this
week so it really helped me learn the importance of it. It's helped a
lot! I also started talking to this random girl from England that was
online and she is a solid new investigator that is excited to learn
more!

We had a great break through lesson with the Luna girls. They have
lots of religious questions and are still trying to decide what they
believe. Instead of answering all their questions this time, we had
them just pick one question, then gave them a Book of Mormon chapter
to read and find the answer in the chapter. One of the girls questions
was why did God have to create mosquitoes and all the other nasty
bugs? We assigned her to find the answer as she reads 2 Nephi 2 :)

It is love bug season. These are a university of Florida experiment
that escaped and replenished like crazy. So they have no natural
predator. So they are everywhere! Everyone's cars have them all over
and they are all over front porches and sidewalks. Pretty gross.

We taught a less active woman this week that is now a Jehovah's
Witness. That was interesting. I've been learning lots about what they
believe. Helps to better understand what we know to be true. Makes me
SO grateful for the restoration and for prophets that allow me to have
a sure knowledge of things!

We went to the family history center with Crystal and her mom! They
loved it! It was to work on theirs and find their ancestors in the
census records. An experience I've never had since most of my family
history has been completed! So fun! I love the tool of family history
in missionary work!

Had a powerful lesson with the Giles neighbor all about the Book of
Mormon. I love that book! And sister Giles!

We had a fun district p day today where we made homemade pizza and
sugar cookies!

Love you all lots! Go read your scriptures :)

Sister Richardson

EMMA HANCOCK

So one of the deaf families here adopted a deaf girl from china
several years ago from the Suzhou welfare institute! Is that where
Claire was at? Sister Hancock asked if you could give them, the
orphanage, these pictures! Emma is the older Chinese girl. Her Chinese
name was Su Shen Ye. Her little sister was adopted from china from
later on and her name is Nauvoo. All 4 of them are deaf. Pretty cool!
Let me know if the orphanage remembers them and what happens! The
hancocks would love to know. The first picture is when they got her
and the second is when they had Nauvoo sealed to them.

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #69 -- SEPT 15, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #69

SEPT 15, 2014

On Monday, we ran into a girl from Poland who is here studying . She told us that the day before, a Taiwanese lady ran into her on the street and dragged her to show her the church! We have a few members like that, who will just grab anyone they see or know and bring them to church. It's great! They have so much fire!

On Wednesday, our English class had a fruit party. The zone leaders ran an activity where they played baseball with rotten fruit. I'm told it was quite spectacular! We also had a Buddhist monk attend our English class, which was quite interesting.

We found a Dairy Queen in our area. So we HAD to go. We both got a Brownie Temptation Blizzard. Which was a delicious taste from home. Most ice cream in Taiwan is not that sweet.

We spent even MORE time this week working on the Phase 2 project I wrote about last week. We probably spent 6 hours or more on it. But it's a good service we can do for Elder Lin, who is busy enough as it is. I went through about 400 cards in 3 hours on Friday.

I was thinking this week about what a blessing it is to be right next to the temple. Because of the area where we serve, we walk past the temple at least once every single day. It always makes me feel good to see it, and even though I can't go in as much as I want, it's still good to see it.

We went to the baptism for Samantha. She is the one that we started teaching my first few weeks in the English ward, and then the XinDian missionaries starting teaching her. So she got baptized on Saturday! I'll send the picture!

Samantha's Baptism

We met with the Williams family last Saturday. It was a great lesson! We did a lot of preparing and practicing for the lesson, but the thing we didn't anticipate was having 5 kids in the lesson too. But I told everybody that it was like I was home again! We had a good discussion, and I think the Williams are very prepared and now is the right time for them to progress and learn about the gospel. We are excited to keep meeting with them and see them grow!

One of the cool experiences about reading scriptures in a different languages is to think about the same verses that I've read many times in English in a different light because the Chinese puts a bit of a different spin on it, even if it's the same meaning. I'm currently reading through the four gospels in Chinese, and I'm really enjoying it. There are some things that sound better in English, and some that sound better in Chinese. Here's an example of one I found this morning. Luke 14:11 says: "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." I love the Chinese version because it's so simple and concise: (You can get Richard to translate it for you) 凡自高的，必降為卑。凡自卑的，必升為高。Anyway, it's really cool :)

I got my Ukulele fixed this morning, and bought a book, so I'm going to try and practice a few minutes every day. We'll see how that goes.

So Janae mentioned in her email about the VISA problems that the missionaries coming to Taiwan are having. All of the missionaries who were supposed to come last Wednesday couldn't get here, so it's creating quite a mess for everybody here and there. But that means that our transfer day is tomorrow instead of last Friday. No worries though, Elder Wilson and I will both be hear another transfer!

Orange moon above the Taipei Skyline

Sorry, this email was pretty scattered. But it was a good week.

Love you guys :)

Elder Richardson

任淳楷長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #61: SEPT. 9, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

There was a great moment in sacrament meeting yesterday when Montee
walked into church with her 3 kids!!! I love families! They all
enjoyed church and are planning on coming to Wednesday night
activities! Crystal and Rob were also at church and they are doing
great!

We have continued to help Crystal to get ready for her wedding in
October. She received her dress that had been handmade in China this
week and she tried it on for us and it was so pretty! Really made me
want to get a wedding dress in china just for fun...hahah. We also
helped her with envelopes and invitations this week. So Robs last name
is White so they are having an all white wedding! Isn't that cute? All
of the wedding guests and party are being asked to wear white! So
basically it's going to be an awesome precursor to their temple
sealing in a year!

At our lesson this week, Montee told us she is READY to be baptized!
She still hasn't given us a date, but maybe this week she will! She
is so happy and shining with the spirit and the happiness of the
gospel. Wow!

Had an incredible lesson with Sister Giles and her neighbor about the
Plan of Salvation! Sister Merchant officially decided what we had
already discussed, that Sister Giles is an incredible role model! She
is so Christlike and her testimony just strikes such an inner chord
whenever she shares it. She is so sensitive to the spirit and acts on
those promptings. She is kind and loving to all that she interacts
with and speaks to, especially her kids and family! Wish we could take
her to every lesson! But J*** her neighbor said that some things in
the plan of salvation were new but that it all made sense! That's an
open and ready heart! Has the ability to recognize truth through the
Holy Spirit!

We have been helping a sweet sister in the ward that is going through
a divorce. So many emotions involved! But we have been there to
comfort her and help her get her house packed up. It's taught me a
lot!

I had a fun experience this week when we were tracting! Crazy things
always happen. So we knock on this door and a Chinese woman opens the
door and doesn't speak English. She is trying to get her 3 or 4 year
old granddaughter to translate for her. And then all of a sudden I
realized I was understanding what she was saying! I didn't know every
word she said but could understand for the most part what she was
trying to communicate. And then I started speaking Chinese! My few
phrases and words that I could remember from 6-7 years ago! I asked
her where in china she was from and then told her my whole family was
living in Suzhou right now. She showed us her Chinese hymn book and
said she goes to a Christian church nearby. I think I remember seeing
a Chinese church somewhere in st. Augustine. But we will have to find
a Chinese Book of Mormon and take it to her! We gave our card to the
lady after we were done talking and walked away and sister merchant
just busts up laughing and with huge eyes exclaims you know Chinese??
What was all that? That was crazy? Haha I told her I don't really
speak Chinese...but that was some gift of tongues remembrances placed
in my head! Hahaha we've had fun joking about that experience. It was
pretty crazy!

We volunteered helping out at a craft fair that was raising money for
a non profit called Canine Companions. You'll have to look it up, it's
a near program I'd be interested in participating in someday.

This past Monday night we had dinner with the Luna's and they had some
friends over who were from Mexico. They brought delicious empanadas!
And we helped one of huge he friends study for her us citizenship test
that she was about to take.

Here's a quote I really liked this week: The adversary succeeds when
we relax our commitment to the Savior. - L. Tom Perry, the Sabbath and
the Sacrament

I've also been thinking a lot about the line from Preach My Gospel
that says no matter what your concerns or challenges or questions, the
gospel of Jesus Christ will help you! It's so true! In the long run,
efforts out in to sharing the gospel will do more good for the world
then efforts to end world poverty...even though things like that are
important too. But missionary work and the gospel is the MOST
important because that is what will eternally help us and give us
lasting joy.

Lots of good going on in this area. Transfers are next week!
Sister Richardson

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #68: SEPT 8, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #68

SEPT 8, 2014

This week was pretty awesome. After a number of weeks without much action, I feel like our area is coming alive this week. We have a lot of new investigators set up for next week, and are exciting about a new family that we are going to start teaching!

Last Monday, we found a really cool store. We had seen it as we were walking past one day, so we decided to go back and check it out. We walked in and there were about 60 saxophones in display cases of every size and color imaginable. Then the guy in there asked if I wanted to play one. He gave me a reed and a mouthpiece and told me to go pick one off the shelves. So I got to play about 15 min on a professionally-made saxophone. It was a good day.

Later that day, our Brazilian friend called us up and said he needed some help. So we traveled over to his pizza shop. He said he had made two pizzas wrong, so our "service" was to eat the pizzas. We were more than willing.

On Tuesday, just before we went to visit the British family in our ward, as we were taking a short break after dinner, a deaf guy gave us a bag of McDonalds food. He pulled out his temple recommend to explain that he was a member, and continued on his way. I'm always grateful for the kindness of the members here!

When we went to visit the Potters (it's funny that the one British family in our ward is named the Potters), Sister Potter told me that I was really well traveled "for an American", which I thought was funny. :)

On Wednesday, we met a guy named Torch Pratt. He was walking down the street with no shoes on, and had the Taiwanese flag painted on his fingernails. He was just a really interesting guy. He might come and do a temple tour someday!

We went to visit the Silvas (the Brazilian pizza-makers) again. Those lessons are also a mess of languages, because the son speaks only English and Portuguese, we only speak English and Chinese, and the father only speaks Chinese and Portuguese. So we speak mostly Chinese, and then throw in some English and Portuguese words that they teach us. So we taught about "fe" and "milagre" (faith and miracles), and then Brother Silva came to church on Sunday! He was there late because he got lost, but considering that he hasn't been in about 3 years, we thought that it was a big step!

On Thursday, we got a new project to work on. Elder Wilson was in the office when they created the new "Phase 2" program, which is a set of about 2000 vocabulary cards for the missionaries here to learn. But before they print a new set, they need to be proofread. So somehow Elder Wilson and I were assigned by the operations assistant to proofread all 2000 cards! We are going to try to finish this next week, but we are only to card 700! 慢慢來！

On Friday we had lunch with a guy we met on the street two weeks ago. He is a translator for the Taiwanese government, so he speaks English, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish, but he's originally from Indiana. We had a really interesting discussion with him and are looking forward to meeting again next week.

On Saturday, we made the long trip out to visit Randy again. It was a little bit faster this time, but not much. We shared with him about the Plan of Salvation, and he didn't react a whole lot to our teaching, but he is at least absorbing the doctrine and he's willing to keep trying. We didn't expect him to come to church on Sunday, but he did! When we invited him on Saturday, he didn't seem like he wanted to go, but he showed up on Sunday and said his wife wants to come with him next week!

On Sunday, one of our members brought a couple of friends from Japan. Luckily, one of the members from our ward served a mission in Japan, so she translated sacrament meeting for them. At the end, they said they wanted a Book of Mormon in Japanese, but we didn't have one on hand, and they had to leave really quickly. About a minute after they left, we found the sister missionaries who had the keys to the closet where the foreign language copies of the Book of Mormon were, so we grabbed one and started running! We caught up to them and they were really grateful to have a copy! Elder Wilson and I thought it would've made a great picture of the two of us running in our suits to deliver the Book of Mormon!

Last night, we got some great news. There is a family who is good friends with the Frost family in our ward, and they have been coming to church every week for about the past month. They said that they love the feeling of coming to church, and they say that it's has affected their family a lot! They went to dinner with their member friends on Saturday, and Brother Frost committed them to take the missionary discussions! So we have their phone number and we will hopefully be able to meet with them this weekend. We are really excited to have a family to teach! They really are a great family, and I'm excited for them to receive all of the blessings that the gospel brings!

Last night, I finished reading the "Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith" book. The Prophet Joseph Smith was a truly great prophet, and I love what it says in Doctrine and Covenants 135:3:

"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more,save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it....He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people."

After reading his teachings and about his life, I know that this is true! Joseph Smith's words and teachings have brought me closer to Jesus Christ, and taught me about how to be happy in this life and how to find salvation in the next!

It was a good week! Hope you have a good week too!

Elder Richardson

任淳楷長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #60 -- SEPT 1, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON

SEPT 1, 2014

Last night we helped with a music fireside held in Palatka that was
put on by the missionaries. It was a beautiful night of music! I ended
up accompanying 5 songs! There was a beautiful spirit there.

Some big news of the week is that we set a baptism date with Crystal!
It will be a week after their wedding. She is so excited! I have loved
seeing the gospel change her and her desires. Her fiancé is active now
too in part due to her influence. She gave us her mom as a referral
and said her mom has been doing a lot of family history lately! So we
plan on taking them to the family history center soon.

Another achievement was getting the Luna girls to mutual activities on
Wednesday night! They really liked it and seemed more comfortable and
happy at church this Sunday. We also helped Sister Luna set up her
family history account. Little Jose went to his first scout activity
this week too.

Had a great lesson with Montee AND her two girls! They are finally
back for good with school having started. They are still really
interested too! They were supposed to all come to church this Sunday,
but Montee who works as a night nurse and wasn't able to make it. So
next week! :) We love them!

The bishops family's neighbor came to church this Sunday, the whole
family! We plan to teach them in the Bishops home this week.

We did lots of fun service this week--helping elderly Sister Henry
vacuum her couch and put on a couch cover, then teaching her how to
play a CD on her computer. We helped a sister finish floral
arrangements for a wedding in the ward. That was fun! We also helped
the Luna's lay down a ground cover and then out down mulch in their
front flower bed area. Service is my favorite part of missionary work!
Because you can immediately see the results of how you've helped
people.

I played a piano solo in district meeting this week!

I got to spend time with Jaime today! She's a recent convert from the
St. Augustine Shores ward that I was close to. We met up at Dunkin
donuts and then she came to the outlets with us. I've missed her! And
enjoyed getting an update on her life.

Life is good! I'm glad it's September which means there's a chance of
it cooling down sometime soon. Here's a quote by Elder Bednar that
Grandma Richardson shared with me that I really like: "Ordinary people
who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are
right before God will bring forth extraordinary results."

Don't be afraid to share the gospel!
Sister Richardson

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #67: SEPT 1, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #67

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

This week was better than last week! It's also nice to feel improvement! We tried to go to some new places to find this week, in order to go out a little further from the places that we usually go to. But it didn't turn out super well; we didn't see very many foreigners. So we'll try something new next week.

However, we were blessed to receive a lot of referrals this week. We figured out if every other companionship in Taibei contacts one foreigner every day, then they contact more than we are usually able to contact in one day, so it really is a "Team Jesus" effort. We are really grateful for the 
service that those other missionaries have done for us.

On Tuesday, we met with a guy from Holland named Daniel. He looks JUST LIKE a grown up version of Benjamin, and also has some of the same facial expressions. He was really cool, so hopefully he'll answer his phone again so we can keep teaching him!

On Thursday, our mission had a memorial service for Elder Xiong and Elder Thredgold. I also think that it's strange how positive funeral services in our church are. It's just proof of how firmly we believe in the plan of Salvation. There were a lot of funny stories about Elder Xiong and Elder Thredgold told. They were great missionaries and they will be missed! We were also privileged to have Elder Huang (Wong) of the Seventy come. He shared a great quote from President Utchdorf's last conference talk: 

"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.

Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.

The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.

How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings." -President Utchdorf

I think that is a profound statement, and it's why knowing the gospel of Jesus Christ can help us weather ANY trial.

After the memorial service in the afternoon, we traveled up the mountain to visit the Chiles family. As we were getting on the bus, a lady tripped over my foot and said "Sorry!" to which I said "Mei2 guan1xi!" Then she started asking me about how I learned Chinese and in the 15 min bus ride up the mountain, I taught her most of the first lesson. She is a from Mainland China, and I could tell she was one of those "seekers of truth." Unfortunately, she left Taiwan the next day and didn't have a phone number or facebook that I could contact. But she is in God's hands now, and she'll find the light she's looking for!

At the Chiles, we had enchiladas, which were delicious. It was just funny because on Monday at the Batteens we had also eaten enchiladas! But I haven't had Mexican food in over a year, so it was much appreciated.

On Saturday we had an adventure with an investigator named Randy. We traveled on the subway down to the very south of Taibei, and then took the bus with him up to his house on a mountain. We had a nice lesson with him, and then as we were about to head home, we realized that neither of us had brought change for the bus ride home. But Randy had told us about a path on the mountain that would take us back to the subway, so we decided to take that. We ended up hiking back over another hill, and back down to the subway. It actually wasn't too long of a hike, and it had a great view of Taibei. It was probably just funny for the other people to see two missionaries in white shirts and ties hiking down a mountain.

At church on Sunday, we helped teach the 12-13 year-old Sunday school class, which was a new experience for both of us. Afterwards, in the combined 5th Sunday, the lesson was based on Elder Wirthlin's "Come What May, and Love it" which is a great talk. Bishop shared a cool poem which I really liked:

Good timber does not grow with ease

The stronger wind, the stronger trees

The further sky, the greater length

The more the storm, the more the strength

By sun and cold, by rain and snow

In trees (and people) good timbers grow.

-Douglas Malloch

So add some oil! Love you guys :)

Elder Richardson

任淳楷長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #59: AUGUST 26, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON

AUGUST 26, 2014

It was a long and HOT week! We didn't get to teach as much as we
would've liked as most of our appointments fell through and
investigators dropped us! But it's better to focus on the positive
anyway!!

So here are some awesome things that happened!
-Our investigator Crystal got engaged!! Her fiancé is a less active
member. Well he's active now. We are so excited for them! As soon as
they set a wedding date, we will set a baptism date for soon after.
-we have been trying to figure out how to get a less active sister
have a desire to come to church and out an effort into gospel things.
We found the secret! Family History! We took her to the family history
center on Tuesday and she was in heaven! She was so excited when she
found names, it should have been recorded for a church film. She
didn't want to leave and said she is going to go back every week.
Hooray! Family history miracle! While we were there, I loved reading
all the stories of my ancestors and can't wait until I'll have more
time to work on family history because it is so fun! Even just to read
he stories and look at the pictures! Take advantage of the opportunity
you have of the constant access to family search!
-we had zone conference! Always a missionary party. I think it's
hilarious that we all LOVE zone conference, and it's basically sitting
in a meeting from 9-5. But it's exhilarating. It's hard to understand
unless you've experienced it.
-we had been trying to figure out a fellowship family for an
investigator and her family then a miracle happened and she became
friends with Sister Cottam, a member, and her family on her own!
Exemplifies the principle of us just doing our best and then getting
our of the way for the Lord and the Spirit do their work too.
-I've continued to love seeing the Luna family change as the spirit
has worked in their hearts. Sister Luna said that they have started
praying before dinner and that they spend more time together as a
family. And that little Jose gathers them all for family prayer at
night. We are going to take them to Wednesday night activities this
week.

August has passed by in a blink! But I'm excited for the great things
that will happen in September here in this area!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BETHANY MY BESTEST BUDDY!!! (Along with Rachel and
Rebecca...don't worry I love you too.) But I love you Bethany and
think you are beautiful and great and I love seeing your example to
me! Thanks for always being my movie, Lucy, and sleepover and
everything buddy. :)

Sister Richardson

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #66 -- AUGUST 25, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #66

AUGUST 25, 2014

This week was pretty alright. It was one of those weeks where there's a lot of tough things, but I can still appreciate the good things and look forward with hope for the future.

When I got to this area, we had two investigators. But last week, both of them left. On Monday we ate dinner with Carlos at the Pizza Hut all-you-can-eat with him and all of his friends from Mexico and South America. So Elder Wilson and I were the only ones who didn't speak Spanish. After that, on Tuesday, he left for Germany to go be with his wife and baby. We are thrilled that he can be back with his family, and we hope he can keep going to church there. We will hopefully hear from him soon! Because Samantha is Taiwanese, we passed her off to the missionaries where she lives, so hopefully she can start going there and get baptized soon! That means that we have no investigators...but this week had a few miracles and we are excited to meet with some new people next week!

We've also been working on meeting the members in our ward. Last week, we had lunch (BLTs) with the Klomps. Brother Klomp is in the Air Force, so they move around a lot. They say that they moved to Shanghai right after we left. They also know the Butters! Anyway, they have 5 kids and we went and shared a message about love and service to them. We are looking forward to visiting more of our members this week, and also looking forward to the American meals that they will feed us!

Elder Wilson and I found a Krispy Kreme near the 101 in our first couple of weeks. So now, every time we go to the 101 (which is fairly often) we inevitably go to Krispy Kreme to get a little taste of home. 

Elder Wilson is learning how to whistle, so often as we walk down the street we whistle a tune together. It makes me think of the story from Nauvoo about the whittling whistling brigade.

It was REALLY HOT this week. I might say that every week, but I think it's true every week.

It's nice to be well traveled, because for a lot of people that we meet I can say "Hey, I've been there!" and it's cool to have that connection with people. Like for example, we met a guy named Peter who is from the Czech Republic and we started talking about some of the sights in Prague that I had seen. This week we met people from Czech Republic, Virignia, Quebec, Germany, Paraguay, India, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia.

Now for the sad news. We received word on Saturday that two of the missionaries in our mission died from a carbon monoxide leak. I'm sure a lot of you have heard that on the news already. I was pretty good friends with Elder Xiong, and they were both in my zone. It was of course pretty shocking for all of us, but it's been especially tough for President and Sister Day. So keep them as well as the missionaries' families in your prayers. There will be a memorial service for the mission this week.

The Plan of Salvation is true! Their families will see them again someday, and there is always hope for the future! God is watching over us all, and everything will be made fair in the end!

Love you all,

Elder Richardson

任淳楷長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #58 -- AUGUST 19, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON

AUGUST 19, 2014

Well there weren't any surprise apostle visits but it was still a good week!

On Monday night, we got to spend with one of my favorite people Kelley
(recent convert). Her and her son went on the youth temple trip the
Saturday before and it was an incredible experience for them! That is
the ultimate aim for everything we so as missionaries and everything
we do in the church--to get people to the temple to receive and feel
those blessings.

Tuesday and Wednesday were good days too with teaching lessons and
doing service.

Sister Merchant wasn't feeling well on Wednesday and I joked with her
that she should get sick so we could take naps...and then she did! I
felt bad because I didn't really want her to get sick. We had to
cancel our appointments and stay in for most of Thursday-Saturday :(
It's hard when you have to completely to stop your momentum. But she
is feeling better now which is great! It was still enjoyable though to
just read scriptures and ensigns and Jesus the Christ and watch church
movies all day. I did a lot of cleaning and even painted my nails for
the first time in a year to kill time. We would go to do Facebook time
sitting in our car at mcdonalds so we were able to teach lessons
online still!

A cool miracle happened on Saturday. We were home all day since Sister
Merchant was sick and sleeping most of the day. Our landlord came with
her neighbor to change our water filter. Her friend found out what
church we were missionaries for and she started thanking me for all
the family history work our church has done. She said she was able to
trace her family back 400 years! She had been using ancestry.com so I
taught her about familysearch.org and showed her my family history
pedigrees which she loved. She said she felt goosebumps talking about
family history and just loved it and wanted to work on hers. I took
down her info and I'm going to contact her when I found out where the
family history center is near where she lives in Jacksonville! A
lesson opportunity brought right to my door!

Yesterday was our ward conference. And we had 4 investigators at
church! Our new technique that our zone is emphasizing is having ward
members invite our investigators to church. And it's working really
well! And then the members are excited to see them at church as well.

I read this quote this morning by President Monson: "The future is as
bright as your faith!"

Sister Richardson


This is the picture i took for our Facebook event this week on the
23rd! It's called I Follow Him!

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON LETTER #65 -- AUGUST 18, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON LETTER #65

AUGUST 18, 2014

Hello family and friends!

We had a pretty good week. We walked A LOT. I carried a pedometer for the whole week, and at the end it said we walked 82167 steps. Needless to say, we often had sore feet in the evening. But we met a lot of cool people this week, and are really hopeful for new investigators next week!

We have a really cool recent convert in this ward. Her name is Angel, and she is Indonesian. She's probably got the most fire for the gospel than I've ever seen before. We asked her to share about a scripture in Gospel Principles class (which we've been teaching the past three weeks) and she shared her whole conversion story and shared a great testimony. She's here studying to be a surgeon, and the other day she gave us a giant box of Indonesian cookies (pictures included). We also found out that her dad got baptized this past Saturday. Apparently, he is a governor of an island there in Indonesia, so when he got baptized they killed 8 cows and 22 goats. Sounds like it's a party there!

We spent a lot of time on Friday in the hospital. Elder Wilson is still having back problems. Anyway, we waited for three hours on Friday morning, and while we were waiting, a lady came up to look at the Liahonas that we were reading. We started chatting with her, but before we could say much, her number was called and she had to go. But we at least got her to take the Liahona with her. It was a cool miracle that we might not ever see the effects of, but we still got to play a part in God's plan! A lot of things on a mission are like that. We do things, and we, at least, in this short time, don't see the full effects. Especially in the English Ward because a lot of people that we meet don't live here permanently. But God is in charge, it's His plan, and I like to think that someday in heaven I'll finally understand more of it!

Our investigator Carlos is leaving us tomorrow. He is moving to Germany to be with his wife and baby. We'll miss him, but we will hopefully be able to help him get in contact with the missionaries there.

Our other investigator Samantha is doing good too. We are working to help her get switched over and go attend the ward where we lives, so we'll be working with the missionaries there to make that happen. She loves to read and come to church though, so hopefully she'll keep progressing there!

One of the investigators that I started teaching in Zhonghe got baptized this week! Even though I wasn't there, I was really excited that she got baptized!

This week we met people from Israel, Singapore, Mexico, Scotland, Germany, Jordan, England, India, Wyoming, Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, Canada, Ireland and Russia!

My English class had a kid who's English name was Hooray. I guess his parents were feeling really happy when they gave him that.

Most of our ward were back in church this week. There are a lot of families to know, and Elder Wilson and I have been working on names a lot. Facebook helps a lot! We have a couple of member visits set-up for this week, and they both insisted on feeding us. So it will be nice to have a nice home-cooked Americanized meal!

Add oil!

Elder Richardson

任淳楷長老

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON WEEKLY LETTER #57 -- AUGUST 12, 2014

SISTER MELISSA RICHARDSON

AUGUST 12, 2014

Happy birthday to Rachel yesterday!!!! I love you so much! I know I
can always depend on you to cheer me up and help me to not take life
too seriously. August is the best month for birthdays!

The highlight of the week was the surprise apostle visit!! We got a
call from our district leader at 6:35 Sunday morning telling us that
Elder Christofferson would be in Jacksonville that afternoon and would
be speaking to just the missionaries from 3-5. We had to rearrange all
our plans, miss most of church, and coordinate rides, but it was worth
it! It was a chapel full of missionaries and he took time to shake all
of our hands. I didn't think beforehand about what I would say to him
when I shook his hand, so I was just dumbfounded and I don't think I
said anything, just smiled. I might have said something silly like
nice to meet you. Elder Larry Katcher of the seventy was also there
with him. They were at the Kingsland stake conference this past
weekend and called a new stake president which is the bishop from the
Kingsland ward, which was my first area! The meeting with Elder
Christofferson was incredible. He opened it up for questions! I wish I
could just have recorded and sent it to you or made a transcript of
the recording. Some things that he talked about that stood out to me:
-when you're praying, don't just listen to the spirit at the end of
your prayer, but listen to it throughout your prayer, then it will
prompt you to know what to pray for.
-he said that he was sent there that day to tell us that God accepts
our offering and our sacrifice and that our efforts are approved. That
was great for everyone to hear I believe! He then said that we are
doing great, but we always strive to be better.
-don't ever think that God and Christ owe you anything. We are forever
in their debt, especially for the experience of a mission we have been
allowed to have.
-as missionaries, we were set apart through apostolic
authority...theirs is the commission to spread the gospel and we are
their companions in helping with that effort.
Lots more too, but not enough time to write it all!

We taught a lot of lessons this week. We have been making progress in
teaching several families which makes me sooo excited! It's crazy that
everyone we teach and talk to every day is at a different point in
their conversion process. Some we are working with them to come to
church, others we are trying to set a baptismal date with. It's hard
to keep everyone straight! But it's a cool gift of the spirit to be
teaching someone and feel the love that Heavenly Father has for them.
And also to know through the spirit what they need to be taught and to
do to progress.

Crystal and Jenny and the Luna's came to church!

We showed the movie Legacy to Kelley on Monday night who is a recent
convert. She is so enthusiastic about everything and I loved teaching
her about early church history and the incredible examples and stories
of those people.

Our sign language class is still going really well! I am so proud of
the people that have been coming and all that they are learning and
remembering! It's fun.

It's still super hot and sweaty everyday but we make it through.
Here's a quote I read this morning that I really like:
“Obedience … is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power
and God’s unlimited wisdom and omnipotence.” --Elder L. Tom Perry,
“Obedience through Our Faithfulness,” April 2014.

Have a great week!
Sister Richardson

Hello family! Here are a few more things I wanted to tell you all!

1. There is am elder that just came into our district that is from
Beijing, China! So cool! He said he heard about the church through his
moms friend and went to Hong Kong to be baptized. He said there are
about 600 Chinese members theree in Beijing...don't know if he's
supposed to be telling people that, but it was cool to hear! He said
that him and 4 others from their branch are out serving full time
missions right now! He got excited when I told him I told him my
family was living in Suzhou! He had never seen any of china except
Beijing though. His English is really good!

2. Also, I've started reading the ensigns starting with January 1971
and I found a cool article titled Israel in Asia. The article is not a
light read...but is cool. You'll have to look it up! I'll paste it to
the bottom of this so Hyrum can read it.

3. We had a district Pday last week and our district leader Elder
Jorgensen mentioned that he hardly gets emails from his family or
anyone. That made me so sad! Every missionary should get at least one
email a week. I was wondering if we could do a family service project
and help him feel loved. His email is joshua.jorgensen@myldsmail.net.
Could you add him to the family email list? He'll have something to
read at least. Maybe the kids could write him and tell him about our
family or ask him questions about his mission. He is an awesome, very
enthusiastic and spiritual missionary so the kids could learn a lot
from him! He is from San Diego so maybe Robert could write him about
that. I'm not allowed to email him since he's an elder in my mission
so I would love it if y'all could help me make sure he gets at least
one email a week.

Good luck on the technology fast! I love that talk and video and enjoy
sharing it with member families.

Sister Richardson


FROM SISTER RICHARDSON:
We've had a fun p day! Passion and Tavon who recently got baptized
were officially adopted into the Long family! We got to go to the big
pretty duval county courthouse. The lawyer presenting the case said
something about how they would now become a forever family after the
papers were signed. Sister Merchant quietly says to me "Almost!"
Because that forever part will actually happen in a year. But the lady
sitting next to us just looked at her because she'd heard her and was
really confused. It was really funny. It was so happy to see their
family become official though. I love them! Then sister Taylor who
went with us today, took us to a dress shop where she was getting a
dress. And then she spoiled us with a several course meal at Olive
Garden, which of course included desserts. She is so sweet. And I've
missed Olive Garden! Haven't been there since I've been on my mission.
It was cool to see more of Jacksonville! A city I've been to a few
times but don't know much about! I've just been in St. Augustine and
Georgia my whole mission.

It was a good day!