Its The Climb

Hello everybody! 

This week was really crazy but good! 

Victor still doesn't have a date.. But we took him to the Phoenix temple open house and it was soo beautiful. He loved it! He wants to take his family this week. We really hope that that happens. We had a group of 11 at the open house, some ward members and less actives. It was really good. I can't describe how breathtakingly beautiful this new temple is. Victor loved the Celestial room and the sealing room. 

So missionaries usually don't do much tracting-door to door knocking but my zone does because we're trying to show the stake that it's not very effective and we need them to be the finders! The complex that we tract in has many mexican families and tons of little kids running around that see us almost every time we go there so we've made quite a few friends!

Finding YSA potentials has been really difficult and if we do find some nothing happens because they're so flaky! So we still don't have many investigators but our recent convert Crystal is doing great and I love teaching her the new member lessons. Most of the time we go to teach her she has a lesson or something to teach or share with us. Right now she's working on family history to find her family names to take to the temple to do baptisms and we hope to go with her this week! 

So since we don't have many investigators a lot of our work is with less actives and there are tons of less actives YSA age. It's a pretty critical time as far as testimony and activity in the church! We have been working with many and two came to the temple open house and another two came to church yesterday! That was a highlight of our week. 

I'm a Facebook missionary! Some of you might have seen my posts. We should be getting iPads before Christmas so we're starting now to use this tool. We can use the internet to do so much good and "share goodness"!

The subject-This morning part of my zone got up at 4am and we drove to Scottsdale to hike Camelback mountain. It was the hardest hike I've ever done! It wasn't even really hiking it was like rock climbing almost the whole way up. We were thinking about Miley's song on our way up haha Of course the view at the end was worth it and we got to see the sun rise! 

I read this scripture in my study this week. Omni 1:26

26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

I know that it is through Christ that we are saved. Through faith in Him we can do and overcome anything. I am so grateful for His Atonement that allows us all to be forgiven.

Love you all!

-Sister Richards

Family and friends-

Thank you all so much for the support! I had a great week! Today for emails I focused on catching up on personal emails so I don't have much time for a week's summary but here are some pictures! 

Love you all! 

-Sister Richard

This week was great! Thank you everyone for the emails!

 

I had some great experiences teaching some lessons and I LOVED General Conference! It was so good. It really puts everything into perspective and helps us get our priorities straight! I saw a few themes- personal conversion, remembering how important and sacred the sacrament is and following the prophet!

 

This week I had some fun experiences:

-when I was on exchanges the back bike tire was stolen while we were in a lesson and I had to carry the bike home

-I was bit by a dog (not badly, don't worry)

-I got about 40 mosquito bites (shout out to Madi, I now feel your pain)

-I had some authentic mexican food. so good!

-Victor watched all 5 sessions of conference! we're going to get a baptismal date I know it!

 

Make sure to go back and study the conference messages! and go see Meet the Mormons, it comes out this weekend!

 

Love you all!

 

-Sister Richards

Pictures from Week 3

sister Andrus and I had to do a training on planning so we "planned" our outfits! haha

Elder Terrazas is our Zone leader being funny in the back!

Hey everybody!

This week flew by so fast. I seriously can't believe its pday already.

My companion is the sister training leader so she and the other STL Sister Hurst have to go on exchanges with the other sisters in our area. This week they started those exchanges and every time they go on exchanges Sister Hurst's companion Sister Lee becomes my companion! I have to admit that I was not very excited about this... This means one or two days a week I lose my companion and most often my area and I go to Sister Lee's area to work for the day. The exchange this week was on a day when we had some really good appointments set up, a great dinner appointment with our friend Nohely- a recent convert, and we had an awesome fellowshipping activity with our ward. Instead of these things I had the wonderful opportunity to bike in the 100 degree heat and sweat like crazy with Sister Lee! However we were able to do some service with the zone. We spent the morning cutting down the weeds in this jungle of a backyard and ripping out tree stumps. We were also able to contact some people and we taught a scripture study class. So it ended up being a good day. I'm really trying to love these opportunities I have to work with Sister Lee and just go with the flow! No matter who I am with or where I am my purpose is to do missionary work!

We had some good lessons this week with Victor and with Jesus and Hector. Victor is excited for conference and hopes to have some questions answered. Victor and Hector were at church yesterday which was cool! Hector is less active right now but such a great missionary. Jesus is his friend and an investigator that we're working with.

Funny story- we were trying to contact a potential investigator in this one apt complex and we starting talking to this man who was about to leave on his bike. He was a really funny guy and among other things he said he didn't want to talk to Christians. The man we came to visit ended up asked us to come back later that evening. When we returned our friend on the bike was still there and the potential we came to visit wasn't answering the door. Anyway our bike friend said if you want people to be home when you come to visit you should put your picture with a message saying the time you'll be stopping by and they'll be there. hahaha Sister Andrus and I were like uhhh alright, you have a good night and we left.

Saturday was so crazy. It poured all day long and the streets were so flooded! I've never seen so much water covering the roads. But we made it to the general women's meeting and it was so good! I loved how the theme was able temples and preparing to go to the temple! The temple should always be in our sights, it should always be our goal. Our vision and purpose as missionaries isn't the baptismal font- it's the temple! We want everyone to receive those blessings.

Oh and about the subject...

We knock on doors and no one answers, a lot. The people we have in our area book as former investigators and potentials usually have moved and such.. Yesterday we were in an apt complex and we knocked, no answer. But we heard this cat meowing like crazy. We found it buried in the bushes, about a month old and probably starving. We went to another door and knocked and the neighbor across the hall opened up and started talking to us. Come to find out she loves cats, we told her about the cat we found and she said "hear take this crate and rescue that kitty for me". It was quite the adventure. The cat was acting crazy and was so scared. This woman went to BYU and knows all about Mormons but has no interest which was a bummer but we did bring her some happiness. She said we must come back and visit, for we're godparents now and she's going to name the cat sister or something since we saved it hahaha

I read this quote this week and I'm really trying to apply it. "The greatest mistake you can make in life (in my mission) is to be continually fearing you will make one." -Elbert Hubbard.

I'm working to overcome my fears of street contacting and teaching and to heed President Uchtdorf's counsel and fear no man- from his talk "Fear not, I am with thee". It's a good one!

I hope everyone has a great week! Enjoy General Conference!

Love you all! :)

-Sister Richards

First week in Scottsdale and seeing an old friends at Zone Conference

Pictures from the MTC