Bedbugs, Boxers (dogs), Butterflies and a BAPTISM!

So yeah.... we go into some really gross apartments sometimes and we brought home some disgusting little friends that like to multiple in your bed and suck your blood. Fun stuff we've been dealing with this week.... You have no idea how disgusted I am. 

I hate dogs. Everyone here has a dog. We leave people's places everyday with hair all over our clothes, drool too. This week we went to a ladies house with two big Boxers that wouldn't stop jumping up on us- and they're HUGE! They wouldn't stop clawing down our arms and backs. It was all I could do not to kick the dogs or leave the house.... 

Butterflies!!! We get to volunteer at Butterfly Land as a Just Serve project! It's really cool! They have one of the largest conservatories in the West! We were able to walk through the exhibits this week as part of our training in preparation for starting this week. They receive butterfly chrysalises from all over the world!

Mer's baptism was so awesome! It was really such a spiritual experience. The ward helped out so much and I really think that her nonmember parents were touched. In her confirmation Mer was blessed to be a good example and missionary to her parents. I know one day they'll accept the Gospel! 

We had some other good lessons and were able to contact a less active member in our ward this week who came to church yesterday! We also were able to attend the Easter Pageant with a part member family this week! The Easter Pageant is so amazing! I'm so grateful for the 500+ people who volunteer to make it happen because it is such a good missionary opportunity! 

Enjoys General Conference this weekend! Happy Easter! We are excited this week to use our Because He Lives pass along cards and share our testimonies that our Savior lives! His sacrifice and death has made our Heavenly Father's plan possible. Because of Him we can overcome challenges and difficulties in this life and find peace and happiness! I hope everyone takes the chance to discover our Savior Jesus Christ's sacrifice, embraces His teachings and shares this message! Check out Helives.mormon.org and #BecauseHeLives ! 

I love you all!

Sister Richards :)

​Last week we rode in a Transformers car!!!!! The Rally Fighter is PRETTY SWEET!

​Butterflyland!

​I love this adorable girl!

Mer's getting baptized this week!

Hola!

Sister Pazmino and I had a really great week! We were able to contact more people about the Easter Pageant and are so excited to go see it this week! We have someone lined up to go with us every night it's going on this week! It'll be a really good experience. 

Mer had her baptismal interview and will be baptized this Saturday! She is so excited and I'm so happy for her! The ward has been such a great support and we hope that her baptism will be well attended this weekend. 

Cindy is doing pretty well. She still is having some struggles with her nicotine addiction. She's made leaps and bounds of progress but still needs to completely quit. I have faith she'll be able to and know she does too! 

We taught Travis this week about prayer. It was a really, really good lesson. I love testifying and sharing experiences that God truly does answer our prayers. It's so important for our investigators to know and to experience for themselves especially as they study the Book of Mormon. I know that anyone who does will receive an answer that it is true! 

This week we were able to teach the Restoration on the street and give out some copies of the Book of Mormon and I'm so grateful that the Lord puts people in our path that are willing to listen! 

Today we had a lot of fun at the Colorado Rockies/Milwaukee Brewers game!! 

Have a great week everybody! Sisters- enjoy the women's broadcast! I'm looking forward to it :)

Love,

Sister Richards

we were able to go to the gilbert temple for hannah's endowment. It is sooo beautiful!

​some really nice people.... I definitely didn't knock on this door

​This week we enjoyed some more mangos with Cindy

​Rockies/Brewers game!! 

Can't believe I will be home a year from now!

Hey everyone! 

SO much happened this week! We have had so many referrals that we've needed to contact and this week we contacted them all! Which was such a miracle. Usually we have to attempt to contact them multiple times but this week everyone was home first try! Not everyone was interested but we were able to talk with everyone we saw in the complexes we were at and we found a few potentials!!! One referral we received only had the apt complex address and no apt # so Sister Pazmino and I put up Easter Pageant flyers on every door (~40) with sticky notes that we had written a message and our number on. It was a lot of work to try to contact this referral but we did! Within a few hours the person we were trying to contact called us! The Easter Pageant is a production that the Mesa Visitor's Center puts on every year. They have over 300 people involved in this play of the life of Jesus Christ. Every day we pass out these flyers like candy and we've had a lot of success doing so! 

We had some really great lessons this week. We always want to have members at every lesson possible and it's been hard to find members for our new ward because we haven't met that many yet! So we talked to a sister in the ward to see if she could refer us to some people who would be good fellowshippers to our investigators. She was spot on! Our lessons were so powerful because of the members that we had with us. One member is returning to activity and just got her temple recommend back after many years of not being to the temple. We didn't even know she was inactive for a long time or any of this until we met her at the lesson. And the lesson we were teaching was about temples! It was so good. I'm so grateful for the members in our wards and know that we need them to be successful in our work! 

This week we had a temple trip to the Mesa temple! It was so good!  :) I love going to the temple. 

The whole time I've been in Mesa I've been trying to find this guy that bikes around with a cart selling corn with chili powder, snocones and mangos also with chili powder and this week Sister Pazmino and I found one! I wasn't brave enough to put chili powder on my mango but he sprayed lemon juice and sprinkled salt on it and it was so good!!! Mexicans put lemon on everything... 

We also went to the Phoenix zoo today with one of our members! It was so much fun! We rode on a camel and fed a giraffe! Feeding the giraffe was definitely my favorite part! :) 

Also, one last thing. We had stake conference yesterday and it was so so good! The messages were so powerful and really touched me personally and were exactly what I needed. President Sweeney spoke and called Sister Pazmino and I out of the congregation to bear our testimonies and share why we decided to serve a mission. It definitely was a little nerve racking for us since we didn't have really any prior notice! 

I'm so grateful for my testimony and the opportunity I have to share it with others and to grow so much as I do so! I love this work <3

Have a great week! 

Sister Richards

Hey everybody! 

Last preparation day we went to Riverview park and played Cricket with our zone! It was so much fun! Brother Waters from our Riverview ward is a real Englishman from Norwich, England and we had such a blast learning how to play from him! 

Another transfer has already come and gone! Sister Lyons was transferred to Snowflake where it's snowing! I'm staying here and training a new missionary again. We will now be covering the YSA, Riverview and Mesa 5th ward! It's going to be crazy doing what we call "whitewashing" a third ward! I'm super excited though for another transfer here. I love this area! My new companion is Hermana Pazmino. She's a native Spanish speaker and was called spanish speaking but her first area is English work! So that's a little different but we'll definitely be able to use her Spanish and hopefully I can learn some from her! 

This past week Sister Lyons and I went with the Mesa 5th ward Elders to their teaching appointments so I could meet the people they're working with and the transition would be smoother. We certainly have a lot of work to do and Sister Pazmino and I are super excited! 

One miracle that happened this week was that Benjamin (the golden investigator, Jabari fan from months ago) gave me his address! I sent his info into the referral system and he said he had been contacted by the local missionaries and was meeting with them! I am so happy! It made me so sad that he moved away to Wisconsin but I'm super glad he has contact with missionaries again! 

I'm super excited for this next transfer and know it will be great! Thank you all for your love and support! I love everyday as a missionary :) I know that the Gospel is the greatest gift we can give and it makes me so happy!

Have a good week! 

Sister Richards

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone had a great week! 

Our week started out really good, we had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. Exchanges are always a fun learning opportunity! I was able to go into Sister Cole's area and bike for the day and that's always really fun because on bike you can talk to so many people. While biking to and from one appt we received contact info for 3 potentials! 

We had great lessons with two families that we're working with and Mer's lessons are really good. She is so sweet! Her prayers are so thoughtful and we love teaching her so much! Tonight we're going to have FHE with her at a member's home and we're excited for that. 

Two of our investigators that disappeared came back this week... That's just what happens in YSA... addictions.. evictions... fun stuff! 

Ryan is doing really well though. He came to FHE last week and we had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation. He was in a really bad car accident so the Resurrection is really meaningful to him. We don't know why but he didn't make it to church yesterday. 

Sister Lyons has been really sick :/ We were stuck inside the apt the last three days. Keep her in your prayers! This is her second really bad sinus infection in the last couple months. We're hoping she can figure something out next week when we see the ENT! I watched the District a lot the past few days and yeah it's hard not to be able to work! I hope my companion can get feeling better.

Hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Richards

Here Comes The Sun....

and the farmer's tan! 

Hey everybody!!! :)

This past week was great and super warm! It was only the first week of February and already around 80 degrees! Oh boy... I don't want to know what this summer is going to be like! 

It was Sister Andrus' last week in the mission and we ended it on such a great note! Lexi's baptism was so awesome. We had a great turn out from our ward and the other ward that she investigated in. The Spirit could be felt so strongly. The smile on her face as she came out of the water was the highlight of it all for me. She also bore such a sweet and humble testimony. I just love her so so much and am so happy for her! 

Another miracle we saw this week was that Josh finally came to church! We have been inviting him to come for almost two months now. He seemed to like it although it was much different than what he was expecting. I don't know what he expected! Shouting praises or something?? 

Today I finished reading a proselyting copy of the Book of Mormon. As I've been reading it the past few months I only highlighted words and titles that referenced the Godhead. The Book of Mormon truly is a testament of Jesus Christ, I can testify of that. I just love flipping through the pages and seeing all my many highlights! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and love studying it so much. I know that our questions can be answered as we read the Book of Mormon and we ponder and pray about it. The most important question is whether or not it's true and I know that it is. I love inviting people to read it and find out for themselves everyday! I invite you all to do so, whether or not you've already received your confirmation that it is true- do it again and again!

Happy Valentine's Day! haha I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love, 

Sister Richards

I've come to love In and Out Burger

Lexi's  Baptism!

​Our mission was able to attend this concert for these arts students at the Mesa Arts Center. It was really awesome!

Love these Sisters!

​When you are the last companion to a missionary that's going home, the missionary lingo is you "killed" them. So here I am.... killing Sister Andrus hahaha​

​The best part about being in Mesa right now is all the ripe citrus!!!

Hey family and friends! 

This past week we were super busy and the week went by so fast! We finished teaching Lexi all the lessons and she had her baptism interview on Saturday and she's ready! We're so excited for her. Her baptism will be this Saturday! The ward has been so welcoming to her and she has so much support, it's awesome. They sure help us out a lot! 

We also contacted and taught a new investigator whose name is Ryan. He's been taught by missionaries before and just moved into our area. He has some drug problems but is working through them. He has so much potential! 

We're super excited because our friend Nohely from the YSA ward lives within the Riverview boundaries as well and she has a 10 year old sister that we're going to start teaching! We are so happy to be Mer's missionaries! She was getting taught by the Spanish Elders for a while but Nohely decided it would be best to bring her to an English ward. 

There were a lot of activities going on for the Superbowl in our area and we were able to go to one of them! On Saturday we went to Scottsdale for a Native American cultural and art's festival and we were able to talk to a lot of people! One man we talked to just lost a family member and we were able to tell him about God's plan for us and we talked to this girl named Sarah and we taught her what makes our church different and how the Priesthood authority is necessary. I know we planted some seeds! 

Yesterday our fast and testimony meetings were really spiritual. I love Sundays and all our meetings so much! As I sit in church with our members and see the people we're working with I'm just so happy! Every Sunday I get such overwhelming feelings of joy. I love being a missionary! I love the area I'm in right now and the people I get to serve. 

I'm about to finish 3 Nephi in my Book of Mormon study and one of my favorite verses is 3 Nephi 9:14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

I know that this verse is true- that the Savior invites all to come unto Him. I feel His love everyday and am so grateful for the opportunity I have to help others strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ. 

I hope you all have a great week!

With love, 

Sister Richards

​The best part about being in Mesa right now is all the ripe citrus!!! Members give us bags and bags of all these lemons and different kids of oranges! :)

​Only one more week with Sister Andrus!

​Here are some of the dancers and the cultural event!

These sisters served as the RS president and as a ward missionary before they moved! It was good to see them and here's some of those delicious oranges!

​we shouldn't be taking pictures in church... but here's a selfie of us with Mer and Nohely!