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."
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
Elder Richardson
任淳楷長老
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