BECAUSE THIS IS CLEARLY NOT A WEEKLY THING
August 2019
So, many of you may have noticed, but this whole "weekly email" thing hasn't really worked all that well, seeing as the last time I wrote was literally just over 2 months ago. So, while I will still put forth a great (though not entirely visible) effort to write every week, I am going to change the titling of these letters, mostly for my conscience's sake. The numbers also no longer signify weeks, because that just keeps ticking upwards and scaring me with how fast time is flying...
But oh man! What an update! Here we go!
For a while, I was serving in the city of Rialto with Elder Lewis-Hopper. And we had some great times there! I learned so much from my companion! I'm sad that I had to leave when tranfers came, but it's alright!
I got transferred out to Indio, in the
A Ward (Santa Rosa)! It's really HOT out here! Like, you know the feeling that comes when you open the oven door, and hot air just washes over you? That's what happens when you walk in the door. You just feel like you are baking! And, because Elder Brown (my new companion) and I are the most resiliant Missionaries out here in the Desert, we are also the only ones on Bikes in the Desert! It's pretty awesome! We have so many nice people who give us water bottles and everything, so that helps with the heat! And we have an awesome ward out here, too! Miracles are happening all around here!
Speaking of the Ward, my first Sunday, we had a
missionary who was leaving from the ward. And so, the program involved one of the youth speaking, this new
missionary, and Elder Brown Speaking. Well, the Teenager spoke for about 2 minutes, which was to be expected. But then this new
missionary, who everyone expected to speak for about 15 minutes of the hour long Sacrament meeting, only spoke for 5-10, leaving Elder Brown with almost half of the hour to speak! And so, before Elder Brown starts speaking, he has an exchange with a member of the Bishopric, and they whisper back and forth for a second, and Elder Brown starts speaking. As I looked at the member of the Bishopric, he looks at me and smiles. It was a smile that said, "Guess who is speaking after him?" And so I just smiled and gave a double thumbs up!
It all worked out well, though! I just shared my testimony for about 5 minutes before the closing hymn, because Elder Brown did a very good job improv-ing! It was awesome!
We went over to a family's home last night, hoping to start teaching one of their friends! We really prayed about what we should share, and we finally settled on a lesson plan. When we went and shared the message, and the friend clearly expressed that she thought what we were sharing was interesting, but she was not interested in learning more. But during that lesson? The Spirit was powerfully present. The father of this family, a wonderful goofball of a man, bore a sweet, sincere, and yet powerfully simple testimony of how the Gospel has changed his life, and how he knew that every blessing that he had was from God, through applying the Gospel and keeping the commandments in his life. As he was giving us a ride home after, he shared that the message that we had prayed about and prepared was meant to help him and remind him of some things. I'm so grateful for the Spirit's guiding influence in this work that we do, and in our lives as a whole.
But I keep thinking about that. Do we realize that all the things that we have seen in our lives, and all blessing that have come into our lives are gifts from our Heavenly Father? And when we do, does that change anything? I feel like we know this is true, but do we really understand? I feel like as better we understand this principle, our prayers change. Our thoughts change. Our Attitude and behaviours change. It's wonderful. Wonderful the change that can come into our hearts through the Gospel plan of Faith, repentance, making and keeping covenants, and Enduring to the End! I have felt of that very real effect in my life, and that makes life and everything so much sweeter and more beautiful!
Love you all!
Elder Richardson
