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 RichardsonFROM 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!
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