Tuesday, June 23, 2015

One Really Awesome Week!

Sister Call and I had a really awesome week! We were able to meet and exceed almost all our goals. We taught lots of lessons this week and were able to see some miracles! This week we're going to continue to build off the work we've been doing and aim for some higher goals! 

At the beginning of last week I prayed and told Heavenly Father that I would talk to as many people as I could this week and I asked Him to bless us that we would be able to invite someone to be baptized and it happened! I don't think it was because I was perfect on my end but I really was trying and I'm grateful the Lord blessed us for our effort. The person that invitation was extended to was Brayan, the guy that's been coming to soccer night. He seems really sincere and when we invited him to be baptized he said that he would when he receive an answer that the Gospel is true! 

We're also working with a family in one of our wards. They have a 9 year-old daughter named Mckinley that hasn't been baptized and yesterday they came to church after being out of town a few weekends and we found out she'll be able to be baptized on July 11th! We're so excited :) Mckinley also told us that she had kept her commitment and she had read the chapters we invited her to read from the Book of Mormon! :)

Another really cool thing that happened this week was that a recent convert of just over a year was able to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday! Jeff is doing so well!!!! He will be receiving his endowment on July 3rd hopefully. It was so neat because yesterday after he was ordained he was able to ordain a new deacon. Jeff is becoming so converted to the Gospel and he wants to share it! He said, "Sisters, I'm going to find you some people to teach." That's what the Gospel is all about :) If we are converted we will want to share what makes us so happy! :) 

We have such awesome members here! They are starting to share the Gospel! We have extended many challenges and invitations to do missionary work in the last couple weeks and the members are following through! They're handing out copies of the Book of Mormon and are inviting their friends and neighbors to activities, they're setting a date and praying for missionary opportunities and although we haven't seen any fruits or new investigators yet, I know they will come! :) I know that as members and missionaries we're all on the same team to bring the Gospel to all of our Heavenly Father's children. 

I hope you all have a great week! Keep striving to improve- progress is happiness :) 

Love, 
Sister Richards

Jeff after he was ordained :)


Sister Call and I learned how to tie a double windsor! 


and of course I love sunsets...


I went on exchanges with Sister Ferre in Eagar which is about an hour away!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Another week has passe

This week was our temple week! We did baptisms with a recent convert and then went with the missionaries on Wednesday. I love being in the temple. You can feel the Spirit so strongly in the Lord's house. 

There's this part member family we're teaching and they have a 13 year-old nephew up here to visit this summer from the valley. His dad was raised LDS but is so inactive. He's said that his son cannot get baptized until 18 so this young man has little knowledge of the church but he's reading the Bible and then wants to read the Book of Mormon. He's investigated and attended quite a few churches and he already knows our church is the true one. He came to our basketball activity last week that we  as missionaries have as a finding tool. He's a baller. He reminded me of Quin. I'm still so amazed at how the youth in the world are flocking to the church and accepting the Gospel yet their parents have hardened their hearts and are set in their ways. 

We have a soccer night too and lots of nonmember youth come. We were able to invite this one girl to church on Sunday. She has lots of potential! She said she's always wanted to come I just think that no one has ever invited her! We're really trying to get the youth in the ward to help us fellowship and find people to teach. I wish that I had done more to share the Gospel with my friends growing up. There's another young man who comes to soccer who's brother recently converted and we're trying to schedule a time to start teaching him. 

We tried to contact lots of our potentials and former investigators this week but no one was interested! Sad week.. but their loss!!! I wish I could convey more to them that they're missing out on a lot! 

Our friend Mel taught us how to rope this week! It was so much fun! My cowgirl dreams are coming true up here. I hope that attaching this video works! They say I'm a natural when it comes to my swing but I'm still working on my throw... This video was the first time I actually roped the steer after many tries so I was a little excited haha

I hope you all have a good week! Pray for missionary opportunities and you will receive them! 

Love,
Sister Richards

Yay! Boise friends


Gorgeous sunset!


It's fun to see a familiar Boise face :)


Roping is so fun!


The cute restaurant called celebrations where they feed missionaries for FREE :)


We made lots of homemade cookies for our bishops and our ward mission leaders


Sister call and I at the temple


Love the old vehicles up here!


I wish missionaries could ride horses! ;)

Thursday, June 11, 2015

I hit halfway!

Happy Monday everyone! 

This week was good. I hit my halfway mark on Wednesday. I can't believe how time has been flying. Last week we sang hymn 226 "Improve the shining moments" at church and it really struck me. Verse 2: "Time flies on wings of lightning; we cannot call it back. It comes, then presses forward along its onward track. And if we are not mindful, The chance will fade away, for life is quick in passing. 'Tis as a single day." I don't want to lose any chances or have them pass me by! In preach my gospel it says that the time we have to serve the Lord is so short. It's so true and I want to use every moment to share the Restored gospel!!! 

This week President invited us to spend some time doing family history so that we could take family names to our temple trip this week. Sister Call and I went to the family history center for a couple hours and I had such a fun time finding all about my Grandma Lyn's uncle's wife. LeRoy Diteman's wife Nellie May Olson has quite the story! She was married twice before she married LeRoy. I was able to add both of her previous husbands to family search as well as her children. I also found her parents! I am so excited to go to the temple for Nellie as well as two of my grandpa Phil's aunts. There is such a strong spirit during temple history. I love it! I'm so grateful to be a missionary here in AZ and for my ancestors in the spirit world. I'm so glad I can give them the opportunity to use their agency to accept the gospel by performing their ordinances for them in the temple. I know that this temple trip will be so much more meaningful for me as I do work for my family. 

Yesterday we ate at this family's house and their daughters were wanting us to watch them do everything. They said "hey missionary" and kept trying to pronounce Sister Richards and it was so cute. Everything they said and asked was hey missionary this and hey missionary that and it was so cute. I love being a missionary! I never want to stop being recognized as a servant of the Lord. 

Have a great week! 

Sister Richards

​                                        Here's a picture of me and Sister Call from yesterday at church! 
                    Since it was my first fast Sunday I bore my testimony 3 times. It was a really long day

Saturday, June 6, 2015

I LOVE Taylor

Hey everybody!!! 

So Tuesday night we drove up to Taylor, me and two other sisters that have never served in the mountains before and we got here at about 9:00pm. My companion Sister Call is awesome! She's been here for one transfer, she's from Tennessee and she'll be going home in August. We're pretty similar- both sporty and stuff and we get along really well. So that night I packed a duffle full of pioneer clothes and Wednesday morning we woke up and went to the stake center and boarded the buses for trek! All of us missionaries were separated from our companions (which was WEIRD). My family was so awesome! 

Wednesday was the most realistic trek experience I think you could have. We were given an orange for lunch. We had all the goodies our ma and pa snuck with us raided by Natives on the trail. They even took some of the kids oranges that they had been rationing for later. There wasn't a trailer with port-a-potties like on our stake's trek so we had to walk quite a ways off the trail to go to the bathroom. The men left for the Mormon Battalion and the women were left to climb this super steep hill. Luckily there were men dressed in white that were angels that came to our rescue or we wouldn't have made it. In total we walked 15 MILES. It was such a long day. At the end of the night we approached what we thought was going to be our camp and we were driven out of it by Natives and had to turn back around. My feet hurt so badly and every muscle and joint in my legs were cramping and aching from the women's pull. When we finally made it to camp they fed us chicken broth and rolls. We also didn't have tents or anything so we just laid down tarps that night and slept under the stars. It was so cold. It's been a long time since I've seen so many stars though. It was beautiful. 

The women's pull can be related to the trials and steep climbs we have to overcome in our lives. I know that there are angels to help us in our lives, we have family and friends who love us and a Savior who knows exactly what we're going through who we can trust in and rely on. 

Thursday we only walked 2 miles and from then on we camped in the same place. They fed us way better after Wednesday. That day we had many fun stations. There was taffy pulling, they had guys wash the girls hair and girls wash the guys hair, they shot guns with black powder (I wish I could have! missionary rules... My pa kept trying to convince me to take off my badge and take a shot haha), and the best/worst station was the chicken killing. We killed and plucked and cut up a chicken for dinner. It was the grossest thing I think I've ever done. 

Friday was the "Sunday" of the experience. They had firesides and the kids bore testimony. We also had more stations of team building experiences. We had buffalo stew for dinner this night. It was my first time eating buffalo I think. It was pretty good. Later that night we had FHE and me and this recently returned missionary taught the youth in our family about our divine potential and the eternal perspective of the plan of salvation. I love being around the youth and being able to bear my testimony to them! Such experiences are a fulfillment of my patriarchal blessing :) 

Saturday we packed up and only had to trek about a mile or so. My family ran like the whole way. When we reached our destination they had soda and lots of cold watermelon waiting for us. It was delicious. When we got home we showered and crashed for a few hours. We were so exhausted! 

Sunday was so cool. I forgot to mention we cover 3 wards up here so our day is full of church! I'm used to that... In every Sacrament meeting they had the youth speak about their trek experience. It was neat to hear how their appreciation of the pioneers grew and how their testimonies of the Gospel were strengthened. 

Taylor is so beautiful. It's such a cute little town! I traded cacti and palm trees for pine trees and way better weather. It reminds me of Idaho up here. It really is so nice and the people are amazing. I just absolutely love it up here already and I've only been here just a couple of days! The missionary work is mainly reactivation up here. In this tiny town there are 9 WARDS! We do have a few investigators though. 

I'm so sad that Elder Perry passed away. He was such an amazing apostle. I have had this quote by him on my iPad since I got it. It is "Obedience is a choice. It is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power and God's unlimited wisdom and omnipotence." I know that we are given commandments (and rules as missionaries- like not shooting guns) for our benefit and that as we are obedient we are blessed. I have seen that in my missionary work and will continue to strive to do my best! 

I love you all! I can't believe summer is here! Have a great week! 

Sister Richards

​On the trail!


​Plucking the chicken's feathers... ew :/


​The Perry family!


​This watermelon was the best thing I ate all week. The fresh chicken was so chewy!


​Us Sisters after we finished on Saturday. Sister Call, my new companion is the one next to me


​This is Taylor... :)


​this is our duplex. We live on the right and the Spanish sisters live on the left (not much spanish work up here though) We have so many bugs flying around inside, last night we killed a cricket inside... better than bedbugs though. The cemetery is just down the street to the right. The rodeo grounds are just down the street to the left :)


​I can get used to this! Love this place