DECEMBER 31, 2018 - WEEKS #41, 42, 43, & 44

BASICALLY DECEMBER 2018  IN IT'S ENTIRETY

December 31, 2018

So all of December has been insane! Elder Brown and I have been running ever since the beginning, and aren't stopping! We've been trying to help everyone that we are working with to come closer to Christ leading up to the Christmas holiday. We've had a lot of difficulties, especially with trying to adjust to our biking in this area, but it's been a lot of fun!

A big thing through December has been trying to catch up in reading the Book of Mormon! President Nelson in October challenged all of the women to read the whole Book of Mormon by the end of the year, and President Dixon challenged all of us to do that as well! I got behind, and so I've been catching up this month! I'm almost done, but I've really enjoyed reading the scriptures even more recently. I've learned a lot more about why we need the Book of Mormon, too! There are so many examples of what how we should act in our daily lives as Disciples, or followers, of Jesus Christ. I love it when I can see ways that I can improve, and have a scriptural example to learn from!

So we work pretty closely with the Spanish-speaking Sisters (Hermanas) and the Spanish Elders sometimes, because they have church in our building. The Hermanas were having a baptism, and had asked the Spanish Elders to fill up the baptismal font with water beforehand while they went and spoke in a meeting. When the Spanish Elders had to leave suddenly, they told us to turn off the font when it filled up. We thought that it would take a while to fill up, so we went ahead and went to our Ward's choir practice. When we came out, we just heard "The Font flooded!!!" and we ran over to see the tile floors in the kitchen and bathrooms around the font just covered in water!!

We felt so bad, and just as we discovered this, the whole Spanish Branch was getting out and discovering this as well! And so we threw off our suit coats, got some members of the Ward, and got to work trying to get the water down a drain. The problem was that the only drain was back in the font, and so we got someone to unplug the stopper and pushed all of the gross water back into the font. We had planned to drain the whole font and then refill it (Even though it would take 2 hours to do that), but the man who was going to get baptized told us that he just wanted to be baptized, and that he didn't care how the water looked. And so we filled the font back up to full, and made it all work!

That man had the faith to know that being baptized was more important than some of the small details, like the cleanliness of the water. Through the whole service, he looked so happy to have finally made it there, and we were so happy for him!

This month a focus has been becoming more of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Many of us know who He is, and are grateful to Him for His sacrifice and Resurrection that make it possible for us to heal and live again, but do we let that change who we are? Do we let Him change who we are? Or, rather, do we make the active effort with Him to grow and change into someone like Him? As we look at how He wants us to grow, and then we kneel down and just talk with Our Heavenly Father, pouring out our hearts in prayer for help, and making plans with Him on what we will give up and what we want to do to achieve that, God will make up the difference. Grace is supplied when we give righteous desires our best efforts. And how Grateful I am for that! Honestly, if it weren't for that grace, I'd be stuck! :D

But seriously! A new year starts tomorrow! We can start fresh with new goals, and new focuses! An exercise that we did is we looked at where we were, and then we wrote down what our gift to God would be this next year. Whether it be a gift of some time or a TV show, what will we offer Him this next year to make it different? To make us different? I'd encourage you to ponder on that before or after your festivities tonight for 2019!

Happy New Years! Feliz Añu Nuevo!

Elder Richardson

1) Our Missionary Zone at our big Christmas Conference!

2) Our District went Christmas Carolling all Christmas week with some members!

3) My Birthday with the Spanish Elders and a Member and her friends!

4) We got to the Temple earlier this month, and one of our good Member friends was able to bring us!

DECEMBER 25, 2018 - CHRISTMAS

 MERRY CHRISTMAS

December 25, 2018

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!! I'm so excited for this season, and I think I've said that before, but that's because it's true!

I've gotten all of your birthday and Christmas wishes, and I feel all warm and fuzzy now! Thank you all so much for the love that you've sent my way!

Unfortunately, I am very characteristically behind. This should come as no surpise to anyone, but we've been SOOOOOO busy on our preparation days this transfer. I literally did not have time to write much of anything  the past several weeks in terms of an update for each week. So... I guess I'll dump it all on you next week? I am very adamantly scheduling a lazy day for that purpose, so I'm hoping that happens!

I love you all, and  desperately wanted to write an individual Christmas note to everyone, but alas...

LOVE AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

Elder Richardson

1) As Proof that I am still alive, a photo. Also, I got this mug in a White Elephant gift exchange with the other Missionaries. I think I got the best present!!

DECEMBER 11, 2018 - WEEKS #39/40

THESE HANDS WILL LIGHT THE WORLD

Dec 11, 2018

Because Michelle speaks mainly Chinese, it's kind of hard for us to make sure that she's doing well and to keep supporting her because she is being taught by the Chinese-speaking Missionaries, so we don't get to see her during lessons. But We found a way! Michelle has offered us multiple times to get free massages, at her spa, so one P-day morning we just dropped by with one of our members and talked for a while, and she had us get free foot massages! (That was a very strange experience. I wasn't super fond of that part...) 

Michelle had us go into this back room, but we were a little scared because we didn't know what was going on. But when we came  back out to the Lobby, ushered us back in! We tried to look over to our member for help, but she didn't know what to do either! She later told us that she felt like a mother abandoning her children! It was weird, but that was funny! Plus, it was good for Michelle to be able to make a new friend, and for us to talk to her a little more, so we're probably going to be going back some other time for a manicure or something, haha!

We were very blessed to have a family invite us over for Thanksgiving Dinner, and they made us feel very welcome with their family that night. In fact, they did such a good job, that Elder Mills and I didn't even get to share our Thanksgiving message, so we went back another night to share it! We had made a little video of a bunch of little scenes from thanksgiving, and I got to use our little Google Photos app to edit it all together, and I really enjoyed doing that! The family really enjoyed the finished product when we showed it to them that night, too! That's something I'm going to be looking to do more often, because it's not too hard, it's fun for me, and it's a great way to show the people we're working with that we love them!

We also got to go with Lourna to the Temple! It was really exciting to see her feel the spirit in there, and she absolutely loved it! I was just reminded of what a blessing it is to have temples, so that we can feel closer!

Unfortunately, it also got to be transfer time. I'm still in Palm Springs, thankfully! I really love the Ward, and have a lot of good friends I've made here! But it was Elder Mills' time to leave, sadly. 

But Elder Brown did come! Funnily enough, Elder Brown is my first companion that I had met before! We served in the Yucaipa Zone at the same time, even if he was on the  other side of it... But we had had a couple adventures with each other during that time! One of them involved running on a hike, and the other involved dog food, so I don't necessarily know what that means for our transfer together, but here we are!

Elder Brown is a very hard worker, but he's also a smart thinker! He's always trying to weigh our options, on whether or not we are doing the Best thing or the things that the Lord most wants us to do right then! It's been a really exercise, because what ends up happening is that by the end of the day, we can feel comfort from us having given the Lord our all that day! Our plan has just been to hit the ground running and don't stop!

Also, with this Transfer, we are Biking now! Hooray! Basically, the Mission had to get rid of 10 cars (Which is a lot!) so other Missions could use them, and so a lot of areas that haven't (or maybe shouldn't) be on bike are now biking! I've missed my bike. And the Exercise! It's been exhausting, though! Palm Springs is a big area, as most desert areas are! One night, we biked 17 miles just to get to two appointments and back home! Thankfully, our ward, which loves us dearly, has taken pity on us, and they are giving us rides and food to help us out! :D

We also got to have our "LightTheWorld" kickoff activity! It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of fun! "Light the World" is a Christmas Initiative the Church is doing to help us to all  focus on being lights to others by serving them! We created and showed a video, and then went and painted everyone's hands with Glow in the Dark paint. After that, we shut off all of the lights and took a picture with a banner that says, "These are the Hands that will Light the World!"

I know that Christmas is coming up, and Everyone knows it's a special time of the year! But Our hands can Light the World of someone  who really needs it! I'm trying my hardest to find ways to do that for others, and I know that you don't have to be a Missionary to brighten somebody's life! Jesus said that "Ye are the light of the world!" (Matthew 5:14) That means you!

So go out there and Light The World this Season!

Elder Richardson

1) We had a little photo booth at our Light the World activity, and here's all of my district in a very dignified photo!

2) Here is the Thanksgiving Spread and crew!

3) These Hands will Light the World!

4) OK, I don't know what these are, but there are these freaky giant Baby statues IN A PIT, and they are in Palm Springs. It's Art???

5) Elder Mills getting a Manicure from Michelle (Teehee...!) 

Benjamin Richardson

California Redlands Mission

Feb 28, 2018 - March 3, 2020

DECEMBER 9, 2018 - COMMUNICATION ABOUT 

GRANDMA CLEA BEACH'S DEATH

FROM MOM:

Just need to let you know that Grandma Beach graduated to the other side of the veil yesterday afternoon.

I love her and miss her but am glad she is free from the limitations of old age.

She is with Grandpa and her son Allen, her twin brother Cleo and many others.  It had to be a glorious reunion!

FROM BENJAMIN:

Thank you so much for letting me know. I had hoped that I would get to see her after my mission one more time, but There's a lot of work that needs to be done, and so she must be needed on the other side of the veil!

Could you send me a picture of her and/or a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Beach over Email? I was thinking that maybe I could make a post on Facebook, at least in the Roy and Clea Beach group, just bearing testimony of the Plan of Salvation? I don't know, what do you think? Would that be good, or would that almost be disrespectful? I'm not too sure.

I love you Mom! I'm praying for you, too! I know that this is hard, but I know that Grandma is doing great now!

Elder Richardson