Hello One and All,
Well I suppose I'll start with the transfer info. I'm getting shipped to Ecuador! No, I can't actually back that up. I'm staying here in Kennewick and so is E. Anderson. So we're pretty excited. So my address remains the same for another 6 weeks. To be honest we were a little surprised to find out we were both staying. We're some of the oldest Spanish speakers in the mission (weird when did that happen?!) so they usually tend to put us with younger elders getting started. But the Lord has a plan so we are happy.
Another bulletin of note and importance is that this is officially my last Tuesday Pday. From now on Pday will be on Monday. So any emails you want to get to me need to arrive on Monday. Apparently the first presidency has been encouraging mission presidents to make the change for a while now. It'll be interesting but we'll see how it goes. One good thing about it is that it will stomp out peve-ing once and for all. That means partying the night before pday, which some elders do. Fortunately no one around here.
Yesterday we started off the transfer with a bang and went out for some good ol' fashion tracting. I'm hearing from a lot of sources that the church is trying to phase out this finding tool, and I can understand why, it's not the most effective tool, but with out it I don't know what we would do when every other plan falls through.
Then last night we went and did a FHE with the Ramos family, a part member family we've been working with for quite some time. The father Abraham is a member, and he is married with three children, he's the only member. Last Saturday they came out to a baptism the ZL's had. So last night we had a lesson all about baptism. The spirit was super strong and when we invited two of the kids, Omar and Alejandra to be baptized they both agreed. Now they are on date for December 10th. We're very excited because this baptism can totally happen. This Sunday we're going to arrange a meeting with President Hernandez (branch pres) and Bro Ramos to make sure he can baptize his kids. Afterwards for the activity we played Mexican bingo, and I impressed everyone with my announcer skills. A good time was had by all.
Thanksgiving was good. Unfortunately every charitable organization in the state of Washington was completely booked so we didn't get to go help out anywhere, but we did have fun. We had dinner with the branch president and one of his councilor's families and the sister missionaries we serve with. It wasn't the most traditional feast, but it was still delish. Afterwards we all played games together and it was a ton of fun. I really am looking forward to spending Christmas here with the members that we have here.
Today we have to cut our Pday a little short because of an assignment we got from the AP's yesterday. They want us to take out the incoming new Spanish elders tonight and use them in a few lessons. So me and Anderson are going to split up and cover a couple of our investigators with fresh off the plane greenies. It should be fun.
Well I think that about covers this last week. I hope every one's doing good and keep on keepin' on. The church is true!
Love,
Elder Richards
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Another Transfer Older
Hello One and All,
Well I guess some logistical stuff. I'll keep my eye out for the package, thanks for that. Thanks for the news on the various peeps, I can't believe David's almost done. I remember going out to lunch with him on his last day up in Provo. In regards to classes at BYU, I have no idea when that starts, I would imagine closer to the semester, I don't know. But yeah, I'll get some people on that.
So this was a good week. On Wednesday we got our first snow. Nothing stuck, and after about an hour it turned to rain, but it was magical enough that we've officially switched over to the Christmas tunes in the car. It was kind of crazy, some super rich member took the entire zone out to olive garden. It was my first time eating there, not gonna lie, I wasn't all that impressed, but a free meal is a free meal. And we were grateful regardless.
Afterwards we ran over to the therapists office because we thought we had an appointment, yeah turns out I'm crazy! But after an hour or so of waiting we figured out that it was the wrong day. But it was ok because we ended up meeting this less active lady who's trying to get her son on a mission and we told her what was up and what she needed to do and change. Lord works in mysterious ways.
Then on Saturday we had another snowy day, but again nothing stuck. Looks like we won't have a white thanksgiving this year, especially since today it feels like a Utah summer morning. Just a little chilly with some sun. But who knows, maybe we'll wake up to a winter wonderland.
Speaking of cold stuff, this last week we had to take a few days worth of glacial ice showers because I inadvertently turned off the hot water. But we're back to nice warm showers again.
There was a really fun branch activity last week for Thanksgiving. I don't think there was any turkey, but the food was still way good. There was this mole verde, oh goodness, so tasty. We had our part member family that we're working with come, and another investigator as well.
Speaking of the part member family. We had an FHE last night with them that was so much fun. We shared a spiritual thought and then played Uno with them. It was a great chance to loosen everyone up a little and just talk and have fun. Now we're good friends with the kids and that will help us out so much. They have a lot of potential.
Elder Anderson got a little sick last week so we were out of commission for a few days, but now we're back out hitting the pavement which is nice. I can't believe that this transfer is over all ready! This Saturday we'll find out about the new changes and I'll be sure to let yall know next week. Not too worried about change because I just got here and just opened the area, they'll probably leave me and Anderson here for a little while until things get more stable.
Well thank you everyone for all you do to support me. I hope everyone has a great and happy Thanksgiving filled with binge eating and quality family time.
Love,
Elder Richards
Well I guess some logistical stuff. I'll keep my eye out for the package, thanks for that. Thanks for the news on the various peeps, I can't believe David's almost done. I remember going out to lunch with him on his last day up in Provo. In regards to classes at BYU, I have no idea when that starts, I would imagine closer to the semester, I don't know. But yeah, I'll get some people on that.
So this was a good week. On Wednesday we got our first snow. Nothing stuck, and after about an hour it turned to rain, but it was magical enough that we've officially switched over to the Christmas tunes in the car. It was kind of crazy, some super rich member took the entire zone out to olive garden. It was my first time eating there, not gonna lie, I wasn't all that impressed, but a free meal is a free meal. And we were grateful regardless.
Afterwards we ran over to the therapists office because we thought we had an appointment, yeah turns out I'm crazy! But after an hour or so of waiting we figured out that it was the wrong day. But it was ok because we ended up meeting this less active lady who's trying to get her son on a mission and we told her what was up and what she needed to do and change. Lord works in mysterious ways.
Then on Saturday we had another snowy day, but again nothing stuck. Looks like we won't have a white thanksgiving this year, especially since today it feels like a Utah summer morning. Just a little chilly with some sun. But who knows, maybe we'll wake up to a winter wonderland.
Speaking of cold stuff, this last week we had to take a few days worth of glacial ice showers because I inadvertently turned off the hot water. But we're back to nice warm showers again.
There was a really fun branch activity last week for Thanksgiving. I don't think there was any turkey, but the food was still way good. There was this mole verde, oh goodness, so tasty. We had our part member family that we're working with come, and another investigator as well.
Speaking of the part member family. We had an FHE last night with them that was so much fun. We shared a spiritual thought and then played Uno with them. It was a great chance to loosen everyone up a little and just talk and have fun. Now we're good friends with the kids and that will help us out so much. They have a lot of potential.
Elder Anderson got a little sick last week so we were out of commission for a few days, but now we're back out hitting the pavement which is nice. I can't believe that this transfer is over all ready! This Saturday we'll find out about the new changes and I'll be sure to let yall know next week. Not too worried about change because I just got here and just opened the area, they'll probably leave me and Anderson here for a little while until things get more stable.
Well thank you everyone for all you do to support me. I hope everyone has a great and happy Thanksgiving filled with binge eating and quality family time.
Love,
Elder Richards
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Sweatin' it up in Cold Kennewick
Hello One and All,
So real quick, apparently there has been some confusion from our mail carrier so the management has asked that Anderson and I both confirm our addresses with yall, so here it is:
Elder Stephen Richards
3030 W 4th Ave i206
Kennewick, WA. 99336
So yeah, that's us. Mom, I did get the package, after last Tuesday's email saying that it had supposedly arrived I went down to the office to ask and sure enough, it was there waiting, they just hadn't put the note in the mailbox. But today Anderson had a note in the box for a package, so hopefully they are now letting us know about our packages. Thank you very much for the contacts and goodies. I can see so much better now.
The mission conference with Elder Christensen was way good. We received a lot of insight and inspired council. We all got to shake his hand and have a short visit with him. He seemed really interested in my church heritage, i.e. life long member, son of a missionary etc. It was also really fun to be able to see a lot of my old friends and companions. Elder Bao is doing well, he's my comp from BC/Connell who stayed up with me when I was un poco infermo last may. I've had a lot of companions, and each of them has brought something new to the table and I've enjoyed working with each one. But if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be Bao. We had a blast working together and were really good buddies. Hopefully he can get into BYU as an international student, then the party can keep on going!
We had a miracle happen Sunday night. So when we first got here to Kennewick we found Jorge Mitchel who was so so so prepared for baptism. But then, he moved. We never got his new address, all we knew was that it was somewhere near by. But unfortunately we lost him. The number we had for him didn't work, we even tracted all of the apartments with the number 5 because we had thought he said he was moving to a 5. We even walked around the neighborhood constantly hoping that we would happen upon him. A lot of prayers were said and we even had a special fast. But it seemed he was gone for good.
Then on Sunday night we were walking down a dark street contacting old investigators from the sisters we hear a heavily accented "I've been looking for you guys!" We look around and there's Jorge jumping out of a car to talk to us. We got his real number and real address and are now vamping up to try and get him baptized before the transfer's up! God really does answer prayers, but in his own time.
I forgot a pretty funny story from last week. After a district meeting we were going out to lunch (a member owns a restaurant where we get a sweet deal) so it was me Anderson, and two elders in the back of the car. When we start driving and all of a sudden there's an angry bee buzzing all over the place. Lots of screaming and frantically wafting out the window. Fortunately there was no car wreck induced, and none of us got stung.
Yesterday we did an exchange with the ZLs. It was a lot of fun. I went with E. Fletcher into there area and E. Melchor was with Anderson in ours. Turns out I have forgotten how to teach on the fly in English. I was really struggling to come up with words and sentences that made sense. But it was a really good day and I learned a lot. Now we come to the title of the email. Our apartment has an exorcise room complete with steam room. (a ghetto one, but one non the less). So we closed out our exchange with a fantastic steaming. I steal feel great and loose. It reminded me of Cody talking about going to the Bath Houses in Korea for a zone activity.
The rest of the work here continues to go great, and I am loving being a missionary. Thanks everyone for your love and support and I always enjoy hearing from you.
Love,
Elder Richards
So real quick, apparently there has been some confusion from our mail carrier so the management has asked that Anderson and I both confirm our addresses with yall, so here it is:
Elder Stephen Richards
3030 W 4th Ave i206
Kennewick, WA. 99336
So yeah, that's us. Mom, I did get the package, after last Tuesday's email saying that it had supposedly arrived I went down to the office to ask and sure enough, it was there waiting, they just hadn't put the note in the mailbox. But today Anderson had a note in the box for a package, so hopefully they are now letting us know about our packages. Thank you very much for the contacts and goodies. I can see so much better now.
The mission conference with Elder Christensen was way good. We received a lot of insight and inspired council. We all got to shake his hand and have a short visit with him. He seemed really interested in my church heritage, i.e. life long member, son of a missionary etc. It was also really fun to be able to see a lot of my old friends and companions. Elder Bao is doing well, he's my comp from BC/Connell who stayed up with me when I was un poco infermo last may. I've had a lot of companions, and each of them has brought something new to the table and I've enjoyed working with each one. But if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be Bao. We had a blast working together and were really good buddies. Hopefully he can get into BYU as an international student, then the party can keep on going!
We had a miracle happen Sunday night. So when we first got here to Kennewick we found Jorge Mitchel who was so so so prepared for baptism. But then, he moved. We never got his new address, all we knew was that it was somewhere near by. But unfortunately we lost him. The number we had for him didn't work, we even tracted all of the apartments with the number 5 because we had thought he said he was moving to a 5. We even walked around the neighborhood constantly hoping that we would happen upon him. A lot of prayers were said and we even had a special fast. But it seemed he was gone for good.
Then on Sunday night we were walking down a dark street contacting old investigators from the sisters we hear a heavily accented "I've been looking for you guys!" We look around and there's Jorge jumping out of a car to talk to us. We got his real number and real address and are now vamping up to try and get him baptized before the transfer's up! God really does answer prayers, but in his own time.
I forgot a pretty funny story from last week. After a district meeting we were going out to lunch (a member owns a restaurant where we get a sweet deal) so it was me Anderson, and two elders in the back of the car. When we start driving and all of a sudden there's an angry bee buzzing all over the place. Lots of screaming and frantically wafting out the window. Fortunately there was no car wreck induced, and none of us got stung.
Yesterday we did an exchange with the ZLs. It was a lot of fun. I went with E. Fletcher into there area and E. Melchor was with Anderson in ours. Turns out I have forgotten how to teach on the fly in English. I was really struggling to come up with words and sentences that made sense. But it was a really good day and I learned a lot. Now we come to the title of the email. Our apartment has an exorcise room complete with steam room. (a ghetto one, but one non the less). So we closed out our exchange with a fantastic steaming. I steal feel great and loose. It reminded me of Cody talking about going to the Bath Houses in Korea for a zone activity.
The rest of the work here continues to go great, and I am loving being a missionary. Thanks everyone for your love and support and I always enjoy hearing from you.
Love,
Elder Richards
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Remember Remember the 5th of November ...
Hello One and All,
So despite a fun movie quote it is in fact November here in Kennewick. The trees are turning pretty colors and the mornings and evenings are usually hovering just around freezing. No snow or ice yet, but it can't be too far off. When I was in Hermiston last year (Wow! it feels really weird to be able to talk about my mission a year ago!) the snow came shortly before thanksgiving. From what I've been lead to believe the weather is pretty similar here in the tri-cities.
Quick side note for mom: So I did know that the office is supposed to put a slip in my mail box when I have a package, but no slip was ever put in the box. Bummer, so I'll have to stop by there later today and ask them what's up. Also on a side note, it seems like every time I hear some sort of update on Kat she is injured.
So, this was a pretty good week. I'll start with an interesting story. So last Pday we get a phone call from a member up in Richland saying he has a referral for us and has taken the trouble of setting up an appointment that night and will meet us near by the apartments.
So we meet up with him and he seems like a nice enough guy. We never could find the referral so he said "let's go tracting!" As a common courtesy we don't really tract after 7:30 or so. It's too dark, most people are down for the night, and it's not a very effective use of time. But we said sure why not because he seemed pretty insistive. So we start contacting people on the streets and knocking doors and it becomes quite evident that this guy is nuts! Very socially inept and saying things that just aren't appropriate to say to strangers on the street.
I won't get into the details but it was rather uncomfortable. We eventually found a family and we had a pretty good visit with them, they have a lot of potential. After the exchange ended we called some elders over in pasco to ask them what was up with this guy, and they informed us that if we wanted to keep any of our investigators we had to ditch this guy as soon as possible. Well after a few more experiences with him we did so (it turns out that by good favor we are not supposed to take people out with us from outside our branch) so we thanked him for his help and invited him to "lift where he stood." In the end it made for a fun story and we found a super solid family that could really go places.
We also had interviews with President and Sister Greer this last week which were pretty good. I always enjoy a chance to sit and chat with them. There's a lot of amazing council this man has.
This next Friday we will be having an all day training with Elder Christiansen from the 70. It should be way good and I am very excited.
Well, life is good here in Kennewick, me and Elder Anderson continue to get along swimmingly. And we continue to find super awesome people that are prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. I love all of you and thank you for your continued support!
Love,
Elder Richards
So despite a fun movie quote it is in fact November here in Kennewick. The trees are turning pretty colors and the mornings and evenings are usually hovering just around freezing. No snow or ice yet, but it can't be too far off. When I was in Hermiston last year (Wow! it feels really weird to be able to talk about my mission a year ago!) the snow came shortly before thanksgiving. From what I've been lead to believe the weather is pretty similar here in the tri-cities.
Quick side note for mom: So I did know that the office is supposed to put a slip in my mail box when I have a package, but no slip was ever put in the box. Bummer, so I'll have to stop by there later today and ask them what's up. Also on a side note, it seems like every time I hear some sort of update on Kat she is injured.
So, this was a pretty good week. I'll start with an interesting story. So last Pday we get a phone call from a member up in Richland saying he has a referral for us and has taken the trouble of setting up an appointment that night and will meet us near by the apartments.
So we meet up with him and he seems like a nice enough guy. We never could find the referral so he said "let's go tracting!" As a common courtesy we don't really tract after 7:30 or so. It's too dark, most people are down for the night, and it's not a very effective use of time. But we said sure why not because he seemed pretty insistive. So we start contacting people on the streets and knocking doors and it becomes quite evident that this guy is nuts! Very socially inept and saying things that just aren't appropriate to say to strangers on the street.
I won't get into the details but it was rather uncomfortable. We eventually found a family and we had a pretty good visit with them, they have a lot of potential. After the exchange ended we called some elders over in pasco to ask them what was up with this guy, and they informed us that if we wanted to keep any of our investigators we had to ditch this guy as soon as possible. Well after a few more experiences with him we did so (it turns out that by good favor we are not supposed to take people out with us from outside our branch) so we thanked him for his help and invited him to "lift where he stood." In the end it made for a fun story and we found a super solid family that could really go places.
We also had interviews with President and Sister Greer this last week which were pretty good. I always enjoy a chance to sit and chat with them. There's a lot of amazing council this man has.
This next Friday we will be having an all day training with Elder Christiansen from the 70. It should be way good and I am very excited.
Well, life is good here in Kennewick, me and Elder Anderson continue to get along swimmingly. And we continue to find super awesome people that are prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. I love all of you and thank you for your continued support!
Love,
Elder Richards
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Happy Halloween
Hello One and All,
Well time just feels like it's flying by here in the wkm. Life is good and I am still very much enjoying my time here in Kennewick. So I don't feel like there's too much to report on. We do a lot of tracting. Every once in a while we have an appointment that goes through, but for the most part we are tracting. But it's ok, we get to have a lot of fun meeting a huge range of people. From vaguely offensive homosexual white men, to very accepting and interested Hispanics. There's all types of people here in Kennewick. Like a kid who came and banged on our gym's window while we were working out in the morning just to tell us about how he had slipped in the frost.
That's another thing, it is so cold here in the morning and evenings. Reminds me of my early Halloweens in Oklahoma when mom made us put on coats so no one could tell what we were dressed as. "I'm superman with a coat, look at the leggings...just give me the candy!" Hopefully someone picked up on that.
Church was way good this week. The branch took real good care of us, feeding us this last week. Last night I had some delicious tacos de lengua. It was good, but not as good as the lengua you can get back in Vancouver.
The sisters in our district had a baptism Sunday evening which was way cool. The branch came out and a bunch of the office couples from the mission as well, including President and Sister Greer. It was a big relief to see the investigator there, because apparently he pulled a run away bride at his originally scheduled baptism and did not show up. But they worked through his problems and he did it. He was so happy and excited about it.
We have found a few more really promising investigators. Jorge was going to come to church this last week but ended up getting pretty sick. Me and E. Anderson continue to enjoy one anther's company. Halloween was a little bit of a let down because the branch is so new and they didn't have an activity for it. Last night we were supposed to be in by 6 pm so as to avoid the tricker treaters, they don't like the competition. We spent a relaxing evening in the apartment conversing about things and getting caught up on letter writing. I'm actually still quite behind. (Speaking of which mom, how's Kat been doing?) We did have 1 kid come knock on our door, we had to send him away empty handed because we didn't have any candy. I felt kind of bad for him, trick or treating all alone in some shady apartments.
Well, life is good down here. I hope all is well with yall. The church is true.
Love,
Elder Richards
Well time just feels like it's flying by here in the wkm. Life is good and I am still very much enjoying my time here in Kennewick. So I don't feel like there's too much to report on. We do a lot of tracting. Every once in a while we have an appointment that goes through, but for the most part we are tracting. But it's ok, we get to have a lot of fun meeting a huge range of people. From vaguely offensive homosexual white men, to very accepting and interested Hispanics. There's all types of people here in Kennewick. Like a kid who came and banged on our gym's window while we were working out in the morning just to tell us about how he had slipped in the frost.
That's another thing, it is so cold here in the morning and evenings. Reminds me of my early Halloweens in Oklahoma when mom made us put on coats so no one could tell what we were dressed as. "I'm superman with a coat, look at the leggings...just give me the candy!" Hopefully someone picked up on that.
Church was way good this week. The branch took real good care of us, feeding us this last week. Last night I had some delicious tacos de lengua. It was good, but not as good as the lengua you can get back in Vancouver.
The sisters in our district had a baptism Sunday evening which was way cool. The branch came out and a bunch of the office couples from the mission as well, including President and Sister Greer. It was a big relief to see the investigator there, because apparently he pulled a run away bride at his originally scheduled baptism and did not show up. But they worked through his problems and he did it. He was so happy and excited about it.
We have found a few more really promising investigators. Jorge was going to come to church this last week but ended up getting pretty sick. Me and E. Anderson continue to enjoy one anther's company. Halloween was a little bit of a let down because the branch is so new and they didn't have an activity for it. Last night we were supposed to be in by 6 pm so as to avoid the tricker treaters, they don't like the competition. We spent a relaxing evening in the apartment conversing about things and getting caught up on letter writing. I'm actually still quite behind. (Speaking of which mom, how's Kat been doing?) We did have 1 kid come knock on our door, we had to send him away empty handed because we didn't have any candy. I felt kind of bad for him, trick or treating all alone in some shady apartments.
Well, life is good down here. I hope all is well with yall. The church is true.
Love,
Elder Richards
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