APRIL 24, 2018 - WEEK #8

INVITATION SUNDAY IS THE BEST!!

April 24, 2018

So my last email was late because my P-day ended early last week. Tuesday, we got to go to the California Redlands Temple! The Temple is so great! It's kind of like a special church building, where we can go to make Covenants, or promises, with God. I can always feel the Spirit there, and I'm glad that we have a temple just 30 minutes away!

And now, for the weather, IT'S HOT! BUT IT'S COLD! BUT IT'S STILL HOT! Honestly, I've been debating about buying a jacket, because one night we had to head home and grab sweaters, so then we could head back out and not freeze while we were biking. And then the sun is super bright, always.

But the weather's greatest weapon is The Santa Ana winds. They blow with a FURY! Elder Ogden has talked about a time where they were biking downhill with the blowing against them. His bike computer thing read that he was only going 4 miles an hour that whole time! Crazy, right? I already almost fall off my bike because of gravity! I don't need another force of nature conspiring to throw me off! Or maybe I should just stop trying to ride no-handed when the wind is strong... Regardless!

This week marks Week 5 in the field, I think... Anyways, we came back to the Mission Office, where we new missionaries met our companions for the first time, and had a follow up training with President and Sister Dixon! It was so great! I love them so much! One of the things we did was we looked at Ether 6:1-12, and compared their journey to our missions. There was a lot of good stuff in there!

That also meant I got to see Elder Tripp again(my MTC Companion)! And Sister Bastian(who was in my District at the MTC), but she's in my Zone, so I still see her occasionally. Still great to see her, but it happens more often. But it was so nice to see Elder Tripp again! It was a lot of fun to catch up and share our different experiences. I'm looking forward to having more companions so that I can have more people to check up on and catch up with!

Anyways, let's get into it. We've been working towards this for awhile, but this week it finally happened: Invitation Sunday. Now, what is this "Invitation Sunday," you may ask. Well, it's a Sunday dedicated towards inviting people to church! The Talks are given based on our basic beliefs (if you know the first three missionary lessons of Preach My Gospel, we had one speaker speaking on points of each lesson), you can say that it's for a lot of people that have never been before, AND there's a potluck after! Free food! It's fantastic!

So we as Missionaries have been trying to hype it up for the last week or so, and have been handing out invitations like crazy! Elder Ogden and I had the chance to go by one house that belonged to a man named Karl. We've tried his home before, but haven't been able to catch him. Finally, we were able to catch him, and he suggested setting up an appointment! So we set one up, invited him to Invitation Sunday, and he said he'd try to come!

We invited another man, and he seemed really excited, but he had to go back to watching his Hockey game, so we had to let him go...

The day came, and we were eagerly standing outside the doors of the chapel and we waited. And a lot of people came! We got to talk with a few of them, and even set an appointment up with someone who said that he wanted to "get back on the right track!" That's so incredible! We set up a time, and he seemed genuinely interested in learning more! The Lord is always working with people, preparing them! That's why we need to reach out, to do our part in the work! Had his friend not invited him, we may have never met this boy!

Jesus Christ is at the Helm of this Ship Zion, and we missionaries are like its crew! We have to do our part to get these people onboard to where they want to go, and home with our Heavenly Father!

Just don't think about the metaphor too much, because I'm sure there are holes in it. Unlike the ship itself. 

And now, I go.

Elder Richardson 

P.S. Also, I have come to the realization that my pictures might not even send in the correct order, so... Good luck...?

P.P.S.S. Also, this email is late because it wouldn't send. I suspect trying to attach 7 pictures caused that, but what do I know? :P

P.P.P.S.S.S. Like, seriously, I can't send this email for some reason... Why Gmail? Why???

1) Sketchy Ice Cream Truck! I just love it! I would also never buy Ice Cream from it.