Take us to yall's leader.

Do you like Daniel Craig? Do you go weak in the knees at the sight of Harrison Ford? Have you ever watched a old west movie and thought to yourself: "This is pretty good...but it would be better with aliens!" If you answered yes to at least two of these questions, then you'll probably get at least mild enjoyment out of the 2011 movie Cowboys and Aliens. So this was one that came out during my mission that I really wanted to see. Not only because of my heterosexual mancrush on Harrison Ford, but also for my love of things comic book and scifi. So how was it you ask? Let me respond in this way: Daniel Craig has a very good american accent, Harrison Ford is a mildly racist cattle rancher, Olivia Wilde is attractive as usual, and the aliens are basically the aliens from District 9 on steroids. The movie kept me entertained for it's duration. There are a few plot problems. For example, the aliens' presence on our planet is due to their desire to mine gold. Harrison Ford's character points out this flaw with "what, so they can buy something?!" To which a non commital "it's as rare to them as it is to you" is thrown out to try and disregard the plot hole. Also, it was a bit depressing just how strong these aliens are in comparison to the humans. At the end the humans lead an assault against the invaders, and the aliens wreck whole-sale tush. Just trashing them. But this movie has good special effects, it's cool to look at, and it is unarguably the best movie out there that pits cowboys against aliens. So, if you've got 2ish hours to kill, why not watch a new take on the old west?

Well, I'm Back.

I've been putting off returning to my blog. I feel like I've needed to wait for some sort of huge profound knowledge to throw down and blow some minds. Share some sort of heart wrenching tale from the mission, a valuable life lesson learned, how I'm a completely different person than before, but at the same time the exact same person. But this isn't an obituary. I don't need to be particularly loquacious and impressive, this blog isn't about impressing. Heck it doesn't really have a purpose apart from providing me a means of creative outlet. So, just like my return to the dating scene, I'm going to take things slow. My current state of character can be observed over the coming weeks and months.

So, I'm back.

Now for what this blog has become (or rather, would become, if anyone read it) famous for, movies. Last night I took a frolic down memory lane by watching the age old classic that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That's right, from 1990. They don't make movies like that anymore. Cheesy, rubbery costumes. Forhead slapping puns. 80's lingo such as "tubular", "radical", and Master Splinter's favorite: "cawabunga!" Alright Master Splinter! Not to mention awesome fights with ninjas and teens weilding hockey sticks. With such timeless elements, it's a wonder how anyone could not love this movie. There was also an interesting debate with one of the more intelectual roommates about at what rate the turtles age compared to humans, and whether or not the term Teenage was actually acurate. Yeah, serious stuff. At any rate I realize this holds no importance to anyone, including myself, it's just what is currently on my mind because it happened last night. Good movie. It's cheesy, it's dumb, it's awesome. If you haven't seen it go grab you're old leg warmers and get ready for some post 80's greatness.

So yeah, I'm back. Here's to what I'm sure will be a long and happy acquantanceship internet community.

The End

Hello One and All, Well, I'm done. I've bought the farm, I've kicked the bucket, I've gone belly up, and a wide plethora of many other metaphors for dying. It's crazy hard to believe that my mission is done. Although last week was filled with partying, I can honestly say that I feel I gave it my all and sprinted to the end.

I don't really have the attention span right now to fill in the details of last week. So let me close my last letter from the field with this:

Over the past two years I have dedicated every waking moment to preaching Christ. I have made mistakes along the way, I have had successes along the way. I can't speak for anyone else, but as for me I have been changed. I know that the message I have shared is true, and I know that the Savior's Atonement is real. If we will turn to Him and open our hearts, He will heal us. It doesn't matter what it is, Christ can take it away. I know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, because He heard and answered mine. I won't say these have been the best two years of my life. They have been the most challenging, stressful, and exhausting two years of my life. They have also been the most rewarding two years. I echo the sentiments of a general authority who stated: "The mission was the best two years FOR my life." I look forward to the next big adventure that awaits me. I thank all of you for all the support and encouragement received. This is the true church, it is led by our Savior. I so testify in his name. Love, Elder Stephen Hunt Richards

The Last Week

Hello One and All, Well, it's pretty crazy that I'm finally in the last week of my mission. It's happy and sad all at once, but mostly I am at peace with the idea that it is time to move on to the next chapter of my life. Really the only frustrating part left is how every night at dinner when people ask me how long I've been out I have to say oh, I have x amount of time left, (because it's easier than saying 23.whatever months). But oh well, I suppose I can't complain. Last week was a good one. We stacked cheese as far as lessons are concerned, and I'm hoping to do a repeat of it this week so I can go out on top. We found a lot of solid and good investigators as well. It's pretty crazy how much we've gotten done in the transfer we've been here. We've greatly expanded the teaching pool and found a lot of really cool people. I wish I could have spent some more time here to really establish some close relationships with the people. The members are awesome (for the most part) and the hispanic investigators are the bombs. The bishop here is a younger guy, really cool family. We drive past his house at least once a day because it's on the main street. They are always having pool parties, literally every day. And on saturday night we drove past and the pool was packed to capacity and a sheet was hung on the side of the house for an outdoor pool movie projector. That one was hard on me, but that's ok, I'll have plenty of time for things like that in a week. In the mean time I am getting stuff done. We've also taken to visiting yard sales on saturdays, because saturday afternoons are pretty well dead, so we go where the people are, and check out fun trinkets along the way. On sunday I came down with something, I'm not sure what it was but I felt terrible, but Elder Calder helped me push along till the end of the day, I went to bed a little early and now I feel much better, so there'll be nothing in my way. Well, the time just flies. I'll send out my last letter next week. Love yall and have a good week. Love, Elder Richards

Winding Up To Wind Down

Kathy Richards Message flagged Monday, July 23, 2012 1:33 PM Hello One and All, So to start off, the picture is of this ridiculously loud bell we found outside a door saying "impaired hearing, use hanging bell or knock loud, thanks!" It made me think of getting one for mom...and to answer your question in the picture the member sent, that is my current and final companion. He's killin' me off right. So another good week passed on by. We have taught a ton and been running all over benton city. The spanish work is booming. One cool experience we had was that we knocked into a woman named Maria who spoke little spanish, she spoke a dialect called Mysteca, from Mexico. We went back yesterday for our appointment, and she knew enough spanish that we were able to have a really good discussion with her. The spirit was pretty strong, I always like it when there is a need to keep things simple, like when teaching a child, or someone who doesn't speak spanish or english. We also found a woman while tracting. Something of a miracle because she was on the verge of moving into a shelter due to inability to pay rent. We've since gotten her into contact with the church and she is receiving help and coming to church as well. Now then, I can tell the difference between someone using the church and someone who legitimately needs help and doesn't want to take advantage of the situation (probably because I run into both instances a lot working with hispanics). She's a tiny little thing that is suffering from health problems, hopefully we can help out. Zone Conference was way cool. My last which was a little strange, but it went well and I enjoyed myself. Seeing all the old homies and whatnot. Gave my departing testimony which was strange. This friday I'll be having my exit interview with President Greer, so everything is wrapping up nicely. But I'm still working my tail off. Happy Bday to Eric, hope it was a good one. Happy Bday to Jacob(?) hopefully. Can't wait to see everybody again, have a good week and keep on keeping on. The church is true, the book is blue. Love, Elder Richards

Trapped Behind an Unlocked Door

Hello One and All, What a week. So life continues to get crazier and crazier the closer I get to the end. But I am doing my best to end on top. And both my awesome companion, and the awesome area in which I am serving are definitely helping me out with that goal. Zack's baptism went splendidly. It was probably the least amount of stress I've had about a baptism. Something always goes wrong, but not this time. The speakers were great (and brief) the baptism was good, the half time was good, a huge crowd showed up, everything went awesome. When all was said and done we got the whole service started and finished in just under a half hour. It was perfect. And he got confirmed on sunday, now everything seems to be on the up and up for zack. His mom was able to come to the confirmation which was good. As we were out tracting on saturday we stumbled upon a yard sale one of our investigators was having. We had just had the baptism, so we treated ourselves to a miniature pool table for the low price of a dollar. So sunday evening once all the reporting responsibilities were done, we had quite the pool tournament. I also accidentally broke our door (going from our bedroom to bathroom/kitchen area). But fortunately an expired student ID makes for a good lock picker whenever the door got accidentally shut. Last night we installed the new door knob so all is well with that again. We had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators in which we taught the doctrine of Christ. The spirit was super strong, and she was teary eyed most of the time. She kept talking about how she wanted to change and be one of those people that goes to church and does the right thing. We told her how those big changes are done through little things. Going to church, reading the scriptures, praying. Hopefully we can help her make those changes. This week I will be having my last zone conference, which means I will be giving my departing testimony. I'm excited about it I guess, but also I am struggling to believe it is actually happening. Well, I love you all, and hope all is well. This message I am teaching is true, and I am excited to spend the next 2 1/2 weeks dedicating every moment to sharing it. Love, Elder Richards

Locked Behind an Unlocked Door

Hello One and All,


What a week. So life continues to get crazier and crazier the closer I get to the end. But I am doing my best to end on top. And both my awesome companion, and the awesome area in which I am serving are definitely helping me out with that goal.

Zack's baptism went splendidly. It was probably the least amount of stress I've had about a baptism. Something always goes wrong, but not this time. The speakers were great (and brief) the baptism was good, the half time was good, a huge crowd showed up, everything went awesome. When all was said and done we got the whole service started and finished in just under a half hour. It was perfect. And he got confirmed on sunday, now everything seems to be on the up and up for zack. His mom was able to come to the confirmation which was good.

As we were out tracting on saturday we stumbled upon a yard sale one of our investigators was having. We had just had the baptism, so we treated ourselves to a miniature pool table for the low price of a dollar. So sunday evening once all the reporting responsibilities were done, we had quite the pool tournament.

I also accidentally broke our door (going from our bedroom to bathroom/kitchen area). But fortunately an expired student ID makes for a good lock picker whenever the door got accidentally shut. Last night we installed the new door knob so all is well with that again.

We had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators in which we taught the doctrine of Christ. The spirit was super strong, and she was teary eyed most of the time. She kept talking about how she wanted to change and be one of those people that goes to church and does the right thing. We told her how those big changes are done through little things. Going to church, reading the scriptures, praying. Hopefully we can help her make those changes.

This week I will be having my last zone conference, which means I will be giving my departing testimony. I'm excited about it I guess, but also I am struggling to believe it is actually happening.

Well, I love you all, and hope all is well. This message I am teaching is true, and I am excited to spend the next 2 1/2 weeks dedicating every moment to sharing it.

Love,
Elder Richards

Summer Time and the Livin's Easy

Hello One and All,

Well contrary to the catchy song title, living here is not currently easy. Let me qualify that, the work is awesome and I am having a blast; But. It. Is. Hot. Last summer I didn't have to deal with more than the mid 90's in Vancouver, but here in the thick of things we get 105ish each day. So me and Calder don't have to be tracting very long before we are drenched in sweat. Another proof that summer has officially arrived is that last night I had the first Root Beer Float of the season.

So the 4th of July was fun. After watching the kiddie parade down main street, we went and started working with the Mexicans, (there was no way I was going to go get told off by white people for interrupting barbq's all day), and we ended up having a really successful day. We also made appearances at several bar b q's we were invited to, so by the end of the day I was feeling particularly fat. We ended the day at the church eating pie and watching the fireworks. A sister from the ward grabbed us and told us all about how a lady where her son is serving sent her a picture of him and his comp and it just made her day and she wanted to do the same for our moms. We thought that was pretty nice.

We have found a ton of new investigators this last week so we are pretty excited about that. One of whom is named Alvero, we had dinner with him last night and he is a stud. The nicest guy you've ever met. Zack, another investigator is all set to get baptized this saturday morning so we are excited for that. His friend from the young men will be baptizing him. It'll be awesome.

Well, the week flew by so I'm not to sure what else there is to report on. Love yall, try and stay cool.

Love,
Elder Richards

Benton City ...Familiar

Hello One and All,

Well to start things off, transfers went pretty well. Getting to see all my old buddies at the transfer site was pretty awesome. When I got to the tri cities I was with out a companion for a little bit. So I ran around with President Greer which was cool I suppose. He told me rich lawyer stories! And he also told me about the rich guys that he home teaches here in tri cities. One of whom has his own personal racquetball court, which I plan to visit soon.

Bnton City is pretty cool. It really reminds me of each of my past areas, but that just might be because I'm getting nostalgic. It's small, not the smallest I've been in. And it really feels like Basin City, Irrigon, Connell, and Boardman all rolled into one. There's even a few parts that feel like Vancouver. Elder Calder, my new companion, is awesome. He's from Bear Lake Utah, and has been out for about 10 1/2 months. He is way cool, and we have a lot of fun together which is nice. So we're always cracking up and having a good time while we're out working.

We're not the first missionaries in the area, but we are the first spanish speaking missionaries. So all the members are pretty excited about that. There is a lot of excitement and everyone wants to help out which is nice. There's a lot of good potential here. We've found 4 spanish families to teach. And we have a few english investigators as well. We have a young man Zach on date for the 14th. He's super golden, he shared his testimony at church yesterday. Missionaries started working with him about 1-2 weeks ago. So we are pretty excited about everything that's going on.

We live with a nice old lady. She does our laundry which is pretty convenient. We mow her lawn in return. Our small side area of the house makes me feel like I am in a hotel, especially the smell, which reminds me a lot of when I was working at my old job. Again, that might just be nostalgia though.

I'm a district leader again, so that was a surprise. My district is me and Calder, and then Tom and Nielson, who serve in another small town called Prosser. Tom is cool, he was in my MTC group, and Nielson flew out with us, but since he's english he is one transfer behind us. So yeah, we are a pretty old district.

I'll send some pictures next week of our 4th activites. Hopefully everyone is doing well, and have a happy 4th of July.

Love,

Elder Richards

All Right Everyone Let's Do This One More Time

Hello One and All,

Wow, I can't believe I'm in my last transfer. Crazy crazy crazy, but push to the end right? So it has been a pretty crazy week. First off I'm being transferred. I know right? I'm being doubled into Benton City as the first spanish elders to work there, so it should be interesting. So much for living out the rest of my days in ease, looks like it's work work work. So until further notice my official address is:

Elder Stephen Richards
8202 w Quinalt Ave. Ste D
Kennewick, WA 99336

Like I said this week has been pretty crazy. So first a miracle story. Elders Broadhead, Weeks, and I had Elder Dyas with us on exchanges and we went out to the China Buffet for dinner. It was a pretty gross meal that consisted of left overs from the lunch buffet. As we were standing up to leave a woman sitting behind us asks us if we are business men or something, we explain that we are missionaries and she takes off talking all about how great Jesus is, she was very Pentecostal. While she is preaching to Elder Dyas and I, one of the chinese waiters walks up and asked Weeks and Broadhead where the church is at. He spoke very little english so communication was difficult. They kind of explained where the church was, but really all they could figure out was that this waiter was very excited to have a couple of mormons in his restaurant. He kept saying he wanted something, but he couldn't figure out the word for it. So he pulls out his smart phone and keys it into google translate and hands the phone to weeks saying "I want this". The definition on the phone says "baptize; to be baptized". So naturally we are freaking out about this, we hurry and get Elder Ng on the phone to confirm or clarify what this man is trying to tell us, and sure enough he has read the book of mormon and wants us to baptize him. Now we are working with our Manderin speaking Young Men's president to teach him the lessons. The funny thing was that as Dyas and I finally extricated ourselves from the pentacostal lady she said "I felt compelled to talk to you guys." Thankfully she did, otherwise the waiter wouldn't have had time to come talk to us.

We had a church tour on Friday, that no body came to with the exception of one family, but it was still a good event, and that family came to church on sunday, so it was good.

One of the crazy news was that Elder Tutttle was called to be the new AP. We've all been telling him it will happen, and it finally did. So he left saturday morning which was a bummer. So now our quatro is down to a trio.

I ship out on wedensday morning. Elder Weeks is also getting transferred. Elder Bao (my old comp) will become the new zone leader here. And weeks and I will not be replaced, we are currently under staffed so the fourpanionships are going away for a little while.

I love you all mucho and hope everyone has a great week.

Love

Elder RIchards

Still Got My Serve

June 18, 2012
Still Got My Serve

Hello One and All,

So first of some business. The mission office will be getting relocated after June 21st I believe, so after that date please send any mail (that goes to the mission office) to Elder Stephen Richards

8202W. Quinalt Ave. #D
Kennewick, WA. 99336

So yeah, there's that for anyone who wants to send a letter hint hint to anyone who wants to send a letter. But until the 21st it can be sent to the old address. Or it can be sent straight to me in

Yaktown, Elder Richards
906B S 41st Ave.
Yakima, WA. 98908

Yup, that mail box is getting awful dusty...
The exciting news of today was I started it out with Racquet Ball! Oh it felt good to be back on the court. I'm not terrible either, so I was very pleased with how I did, and my serve is still good. Thanks YMCA!

The week itself was a good and productive week. It started out with Weeks and I going up to Ellinsburg (a small college town) for an exchange with an English elder. It was good. As soon as we got into town the car died (thank goodness it didn't go out on the freeway) and we pushed it over to a chinese restaurant. From there we hoofed it over to the Chevy dealer to get a tow, and figure out what was wrong. It turned out that the negative cable to the battery was shot, and that it would take a day or two to get the new parts. So we walked the rest of the day. It was fun to be in a college town again, lots of young people running around. Soon Richards, soon....

Later in the week me and Weeks were teaching a mother and her two daughters when something interesting happened. We had taught the restoration and were going over the Book of Mormon when Elder Weeks used the frase "IF the Book of Mormon is true." In his defense that is a phrase that all of us use constantly and we don't really think about it. We say: If the book of Mormon is true, then it means that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and the church is true, and so on and so forth. But the lady stopped him and says, "What do you mean if? Do you not believe it's true? Why should I read it if you don't know it?" We explained what we meant, and cleared up the situation. But it was interesting, I had never thought of it that way. It gave me a great opportunity to bare testimony of the truthfulness of the book, and invite the spirit in. If nothing else, it was a reconfirmation for me. A Tender Mercy you could say.

I also went on a few exchanges with Elders Tuttle and Broadhead respectively (the other two elders in our companionship), which were a lot of fun. The work is really progressing here. On Saturday Tuttle and Weeks were tracting in a trailer park when they saw a member's car (she's a branch missionary that goes on visits with us all the time). So they went and checked it out and knocked on the door, a lady answered and immediately says they’re busy come back later, but Tuttle leans over and says hello to Blanca (the member) the lady asks Blanca if she knows them and she says "Son mis hermanos! Espiritualmente." (They're my brothers....spiritually) So the lady lets them in and they have a good visit with her. The next day she came to church with her kids, and then joined us for dinner that night at Blanca's house. She told us how after the other Elders left she was reading from the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and fell asleep, and "dreamt with God" as she put it. She seems super solid and accepted the invitation to be baptized. It was a soft commitment, so no date yet, but it's a step in the right direction.

So the work is going well. I love all yall, and hope everyone has a good week. Remember, the mail box is getting dusty...

Love,
Elder Richards
p.s. Happy Father's Day dad, I hope the card has gotten there already.

A Beautiful Week

Hello One and All,

So first off the weather this week has been amazing. Overcasty, a
little rainy, and very cool border line chilly temperatures. It has
been perfecto.

It's been a cool week. We had 3 cool Lord's Time experiences, where we
were at the right spot at the right time when we needed to be there.

The work is going well. Love yall a lot, sorry this is so short.

Love,
Elder Richards

A Week of Highs and Lows

Hello One and All,

Well to start off, mom I do know about the recent zombie outbreak.
Apparently there's been more than one. We had a local soldier shop
owner give us the low down during a very enjoyable visit to his shop.
The Miami one actually isn't the most graphic one, there was another
one with a engineering student and his roommate, now that one is not
for the faint of heart. But I digress...

The week started out with a really good specialized training with
President and Sister Greer. It went really well. It was all about the
"elephant in the room", or that is to say, the fact that the mission
is not reaching the goals we have set and nobody is talking about it.
That's been one of my pet peeves, so it was really nice to have
President draw everyone's attention to it. We went over a lot of
statistical stuff, which is nice (I like numbers because they do not
lie). So now hopefully everyone is all jazzed up about finding new
investigators, so we can reach our baptismal goals. Now if only
president and I could talk about our Elephant...I digress again.

Wednesday was Elder Weeks birthday so we all joined him in eating
birthday cake Oreos (I had never heard of them either, not sure if I'm
a fan or not, they're very sweet) for breakfast. He got a package from
his folks, and I knitted him a slouchy beanie (dangerously slouchy
some would say). Then came balloon animals and silly string ambushes,
a fun day to be sure.

On Thursday the other half of our companionship (the zone leaders)
went to Vancouver for a zone leader conference. Afterwards we found
out that the conference consisted of them playing at the new visitors
center at the Portland temple, so they had it real rough. While they
were gone I got to drive around in the Chevy Colorado which was
sweeeeeeet, I love driving trucks when I get the chance. We had to take
it in to get the oil changed which took forever, so my patience was
pretty much shot (I'm usually so mild mannered). Then our schedule was
way open so we had to go out knocking and trying to find referrals,
(an activity that requires patience) and it might have ended with me
yelling at a guy that was hassling us on the street...maybe. But no
one got hurt, so we're good. Also some nearby teens seemed to get a
kick out of it. Thursday was equally frustrating in my eyes. Good
stuff happened, but in a very slow drawn out way,

We had an awesome FHE with a recent convert family where we taught the
Doctrine of Christ as found in the Bible. It went super well and
everyone seemed to really enjoy it. They're a really cool family, and
they love the missionaries so much.

When the zonies got back the flood gate broke and investigators
started jumping out of the wood works. We have a lot of good things
happening, we had 9 people at church, and 15 new investigators. So
we're really excited to see what the future will bring.

Hope everyone is doing well. Whit, enjoy pregnancy. Mike, how've you
been? Eric, if you're interested I know a middle aged lady who is
interested in dating you ...oh boy cowboy. Love you all very much, and
have a great week.

Love,

Elder Richards

Running Around like a Chicken with its Head Cu-....Well You Get The Idea

Hello One and All,

It's been a pretty good week. On Wednesday we went and helped out our Branch Mission Leader on his rancho. We planted crops and had a delicious breakfast. After enjoying some heuvos rancheros we went back to planting seedlings. Then Hna Lopez mentioned that they needed to kill 3 chickens. That's one of the things I've wanted to learn out here, is how to kill and clean a chicken. So I volunteer. After chasing down a chicken I am instructed to hold it by the head and swing it around in circles until the neck is severed. So I killed mine, Broadhead killed his, and then Tuttle went to kill his. We told him he had to swing really hard, so he did, and ripped the chickens head off, it took about two minutes for the thing to stop running around spraying blood everywhere, it was pretty intense. So yeah, turns out chickens actually do “do” that.

Our investigator Procoro got baptized which was cool. It almost didn't happen, but Elder Weeks and I were teaching him and he told us about how he didn't want to do it anymore. We were able to help him work through his concerns and get him to feel animado again about his baptism. His wife chose not to be baptized at this point in time. But she had a really good experience at the service, and now we can start working towards Procoro baptizing her.

There is some really pretty scenery up here, you just have to get out of the city. There's a 40 minute drive through a canyon right by the river that is particularly gorgeous. It's a nice town, a little ghetto, but a good town. Humble people that are ready to hear the gospel.

Love yall lots and look forward to hearing from you,

Love,

Elder Richards

Yakitty Yakama

Hello One and All,

Well I am all settled in up here in Yakima. First off, here’s my new address:

Elder Richards
906 B South 41st Ave.
Yakima, WA. 98908

Life is pretty good. I really enjoy my companions and apartment. We
have a ton of fun, and we work a TON. I had almost forgotten what it
is like to work in a big city where there's all kinds of people to
talk with. And boy do we talk with a lot. As far as dangerous
ghettoness is concerned, it's not too bad. Really it's better this way
for us, because the more humble the people are, the more open to the
message they are.

In this short week we already have a ton of potential, this weekend we
have a baptism of Procoro and Anselma Arrogoite, so that will be cool.
We have several other promising investigators as well. This should end
up being a very productive last 2 transfers.

So I know this is short, but I don't know what all to say. I hope
everyone else is doing awesome. Have a great week.

Mucho Love,

Elder Richards

Adios Boardman ...Again

Hello One and All,

It was awesome talking with everyone yesterday. Fun times for sure. So you pretty much know of my goings ons. On Wednesday morning I'll be driving down to Hermiston to catch a van going to tri cities. From there I'll jump another van (or maybe car) heading up to Yakima, and from there it's shank or be shanked! In all seriousness though, I am really bummed to be leaving Boardman/Irrigon, I've made a lot of really close friends, and it'll be sad to say goodbye. But I guess the Lord needs me to do something up in Yakima.

After the phone call yesterday we began what was the greatest mother's day ever! (Enclosed are some pictures of the merry-making). So I called from the Brownings' house, they are an awesome couple in the ward that got baptized about 5 or so years back. Really cool conversion story. And now they are working on getting all of their kids baptized, (they're all grown and gone, except for Tory, he got baptized a few months ago and is living at home, he's 24). So after the call we went out back and visited for a while. Sis. Browning went and picked up Kristyn, one of our investigators that she is basically a second mom to. I tried my hand at horse whispering again, and apparently I did pretty good because when I dismounted the Brownings asked me if I'd ridden before. Philmont trip aside, I haven't, and I don't think that really counted, (dad knows what I mean). Then we had a tasty barbeque. Then we played croquet, Bro. Browning whooped all of us. Then the sun had started setting, so we broke in Sis. Browning's mother's day present: a new fire pit! Jokes, Ghost stories, and toasted marshmallows. It was one of those nights that I won't soon forget, and was a lot of fun.

Well, enjoy the pics. I love you all and hope everyone had a very happy mother's day.

Love,

Elder Richards

One Year Older and Wiser Too

Hello One and All,

Well first off, unfortunately the Romeros' baptism did not go through. The druggy/prego aunt showed up in need of attention. But it's ok, we will keep working with them and move things along. It's been tough ever since Inez started working night shift; she sleeps all the time now. But during interviews we got permission from President Greer to teach her whenever necessary. Even if it means we have to go over at midnight before she starts working! So yeah, it'll go down, we just dont know when yet.

This week we've been tracting in our down time. We found an awesome guy, Jorge. He's 49 and a single dad (his wife up and left like a cholla) but he is responsible and takes care of his 4 kids and 2 grandkids. He invited us in right away and we spent the half hour visit just getting to know him a bit better and introduce some of the doctrine. He told us how he doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, and tries to take care of himself. We joked around afterwords because we half expected him to go on to say, "and I try to eat every herb in it's season, you know what I mean? And meat sparingly..." He's pretty golden, his concern he voiced to us was that he believes everything that people tell him about God, but they can't all be right, so he wants to know which ones are. We're pretty excited to see this guy progress.

My day of birth was fine I suppose. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just like any other day. I got a teddy bear from one of my converts, I named him Winston. The real party was on Saturday. We had a joint party between me and Eloisa, it was a ton of fun, and we had a bunch of people that we work with there. Before the night was over Jon (the big guy with tattoos) even offered me a job when I get off the mission. He is in the process of starting up his own photography company, I helped him come up with the slogan on his business cards and we got to talking about photography and movies and whatnot, and he said if ever I'm around Boardman he'll have work for me to do. So that was pretty cool, we'll see if anything comes of that in the future.

Another cool thing to happen on Saturday was that a spanish radio station was throwing a big cinco de mayo party at the marina here in Boardman. Juan Saldanas (an awesome member from Kennewick) is one of their head dj's, so he was there MC'ing. We went and said hello, and got to talk with him for a little while which was way cool. All the Hispanics I knew that were there were way impressed that I knew a celebrity. We even got some autographs for this kid we work with, he was pretty psyched. It was a lot of fun.

So yeah, the mission continues moving forward. I can't believe Jeffrey is home, that's so crazy. Mom, if you could send the Clutter's address, I'd like to shoot him a letter. Hope everyone has a good week; I'll talk to yall on Sunday.

Love,
Elder Richards

Plastered In Oregon

Hello One and All,

Sorry about the email confusion. Today we had a temple trip so Pday and Monday were swapped. Just like the good ol' days, and yet it feels weird this way. The temple was awesome, a good spiritual boost. Also I got to reconnect with some old companions which was way fun. I had time to think a little and especially about my current situation. 21 years old (almost) and 3 months left of the mission. I made the mental decision that I want to work my backside off these last 3 months. Not that I haven't been working already, but really throw my all in. I'm sure you know what I mean. Dad, in regards to mother's day call: My church is 10-1, so feel free to pick a time that works for everyone, (for me after my church is best, so afternoon or evening probably) and send me the conference number and I will call in. Mom, I got a package on Monday, thanks very much. The cowboy hat has already been put to use, but everything else is still unopened. Whit and Cody I got your package, thanks very much. We are already planning out drive-by's.

The week has been a good one. We got our tire situation all resolved. So that's a happy thing of the past. The work continues onward. We rototilled a garden, which went well. Halfway through the project we went and talked with a recovering drug addict and gave him a blessing which was cool.

On Sunday the bishopric got reorganized which made for an enjoyable and spiritual meeting. The new bishop was a big surprise to everyone, a very quite shy man, but he'll raise to the occasion I'm sure. It made me reflect a lot on when dad was called/released from bishop.

Partridge and I recently discovered that we both know the Otis family, are they still around? Whatever happened to them?

This Saturday we have an awesome birthday party planned with a recent convert, and investigators and members, it's going to be awesome. Also on Saturday we have interviews with President and Sister Greer, and the Romero's baptism is all set to happen that morning. So we are pretty excited for this weekend to arrive.

So yeah, life is good. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. Hope everyone has a great week.

Love,
Elder Richards

5 Changed Tires Later...

Hello One and All,

Well another week come and gone. And what has come with it? Lots of service. We did a bunch of sheet rocking and tore down a wall for brother Poe, which was fun. Literally an 8 to 5 job. We drug (is that the past tense for drag?) pipe for Bro. Garrett, during which we were suddenly in ankle deep water and realized that the tractor had split the water main, so we hurriedly bailed out water and muck. That was actually cool, Bro. Garrett kept a level and cool head the whole time and told us that there's no need to freak out once something has happened, no changing it, all we can do is fix it. Good advice. Later that same day I took a step and saw a flurry of motion at my feet, a snake. Faster than I could blink I had already ran 10 yards, grabbed a shovel, and got back to the snake poised and ready to take it out. It was then that I asked if I should kill it, to which Bro. Garrett said no, because it eats the mouse. You win this round mr. snake....

Despite all the service projects we have been getting work done. The Baker family came to stake conference which was good, it was the first time that they had come to a church meeting. Hopefully they enjoyed it, it was a very good meeting. The Romero's are still awesome. We have a few things we need to get hammered out before their baptism this weekend, but hopefully all will go well. In stake conference a pretty cool story was shared about a young man (10 years old) was on a baseball team coached by a catholic priest. 10 years later the little boy tracted into him in california as a missionary and taught and baptized him. It was the speakers son that was the missionary, so confirmed and true. It was a neat story.

We had an exchange this last week. I was in Hermiston with a young elder, and the district leader was with E. Partridge in our area. The young elder was still pretty new to the area so he wasn't too sure where investigators were and whatnot, but using the area book we were able to find a few. Olsen, (the elder I was with) is allergic to mushrooms, and what was for dinner? Basically a big plate of mushrooms. He was to shy to say anything and ate it, he even had seconds, what a champ! Later we were able to get him a bottle of childrens benodryl, after downing that he felt better. Meanwhile in my area Partridge and Dickerson were having some trouble. Partridge accidentally ran over a curb, busting up the two right side tires. So after much crazy confusion they got home. The next morning we put two spares on, and then got a replacement for one of them. Today we will be going to Les Shwaabs to see if they can fix the two tires. In the mean time we have been walking a lot.

Life is good out here. We have fun serving, and we teach really cool people. Eloisa and I are planning an awesome joint birthday party for this next week. It should be a lot of fun, and there will be members and investigators alike! Fun times. Hope yall have a good week, don't be afraid to write.

Love,

Elder Richards

A Poorly funded War

Hello One and All,

This has been a really strange week. Monday was Pday.

Then on Tuesday we drove up to Pasco for a zone conference. It was awesome and there was a lot of great training received. I got to see a lot of mission buddies which was fun, including E. Anderson (there have been some fascinating developments on his stalker situation, it turns out it's a random family in Richland....very strange) E. Tom, and a bunch of others. It was a blast getting reacquainted with everyone, and now that we're all older we have served in a lot of the same areas, so we were able to share some laughs about people we all knew.

On Wednesday we helped out a family build a garden and spread about 4 trailer loads of manure. It was good manual labor, and I am proud of how the garden frame turned out. After that I got sick, nothing too bad, but the definitely not 100%. I'm still on the mend, but things are looking up. Our other service was to clean out a field so that some burning could be done. In the process of cleaning we happened upon some wasps' nests, and the battle was on. We went back to the people's house to get properly outfitted, and then went back and waged war. We took out one nest, and then found a much bigger one but we were out of spray by then. So we had to retreat.

The work is going great. We met with the Baker family at the Stake President's house again on Sunday. Dave (the father) brought up baptism on his own. He's not ready for it yet, but the fact that he is considering it is awesome. We continue to work with the Romero family; the mother and two sons are on date for the 28th of this month, so we hope to get that to work out.

E. Partridge and I continue to get along awesomely. We have a lot of fun, and I really enjoy working with him. I love you all very much and hope all is well.

Love,

Elder Richards

A Poorly Funded War

Hello One and All,

This has been a really strange week. Monday was Pday.

Then on Tuesday we drove up to Pasco for a zone conference. It was awesome and there was a lot of great training received. I got to see a lot of mission buddies which was fun, including E. Anderson (there have been some fascinating developments on his stalker situation, it turns out it's a random family in Richland....very strange) E. Tom, and a bunch of others. It was a blast getting reacquainted with everyone, and now that we're all older we have served in a lot of the same areas, so we were able to share some laughs about people we all knew.

On Wednesday we helped out a family build a garden and spread about 4 trailer loads of manure. It was good manual labor, and I am proud of how the garden frame turned out. After that I got sick, nothing too bad, but definitely not 100%. I'm still on the mend, but things are looking up. Our other service was to clean out a field so that some burning could be done. In the process of cleaning we happened upon some wasps' nests, and the battle was on. We went back to the people's house to get properly outfitted, and then went back and waged war. We took out one nest, and then found a much bigger one but we were out of spray by then. So we had to retreat.

The work is going great. We met with one of our families at the Stake President's house again on Sunday. The father brought up baptism on his own. He's not ready for it yet, but the fact that he is considering it is awesome. We continue to work with the another family, the mother and two sons are on date to be baptized on the 28th of this month, so we hope to get that to work out.

E. Partridge and I continue to get along awesomely. We have a lot of fun, and I really enjoy working with him. I love you all very much and hope all is well.

Love,
Elder Richards

Sshhh

Hello One and All,

Well the week has come and gone. My new companion E. Partridge is awesome, we are having mucho fun together. The work is going well, and Easter was a blast. Mom, I got my package, thanks very much. Partridge and I are planning on using the eggs to ambush some people later on...

The week was good. The Waltys (a super cool older couple) took us out to breakfast at the senior center which is always a delicious bounteous feast. After wards we paid them back by cutting dead branches off of their willow tree. The service ended as Partridges ladder gave way beneath him and he came crashing down just barely missing Bro. Walty, and miraculously landing on his feet. It was all good afterwards, a close call though, Walty would have been crushed flat as a pancake, or "hot cake" as the Oregonians would say.

We had a lot of fun getting Partridge acquainted with the investigators, including a heated game of monopoly. Easter was great. We got to spend it with the Corpus family who are awesome. We spent the day with them and then we went out to Hermiston to watch the Easter cantata thing that was being put on. Our investigating family didn't show, but that's alright, it was still a fun time.

This week's random act of service? Horse Whispering. Yup, and I didn't even like that movie! Well, I hope everyone has a super awesome upcoming week. I love you all and the church is true.

Love,

Elder Richards

Shhhhhh!

Hello One and All,

Well the week has come and gone. My new companion E. Partridge is awesome. We are having mucho fun together. The work is going well and Easter was a blast. Mom, I got my package, thanks very much. Partridge and I are planning on using the eggs to ambush some people later on...

The week was good. The Waltys (a super cool older couple) took us out to breakfast at the senior center which is always a delicious, bounteous feast. Afterwards we paid them back by cutting dead branches off of their willow tree. The service ended as Elder Partridge's ladder gave way beneath him and he came crashing down just barely missing Brother Walty, and miraculously landing on his feet. It was all good afterwards, a close call though. Walty would have been crushed flat as a pancake, or "hot cake" as the Oregonians would say.

We had a lot of fun getting Partridge acquainted with the investigators, including a heated game of monopoly. Easter was great. We got to spend it with the Corpus family who are awesome. We spent the day with them and then we went out to Hermiston to watch the Easter contada thing that was being put on. Our investigating family didn't show, but that's alright, it was still a fun time.

This week's random act of service? Horse Whispering. Yup, and I didn't even like that movie! Well, I hope everyone has a super awesome upcoming week. I love you all and the church is true.

Love,
Elder Richards

A Real Live Texan Cowboy

Hello One and All,

First off the news about transfers is that I am staying in Boardman for another transfer, and yes, it is in the middle of nowhere. Elder Hardy is getting transferred to Vancouver where he will probably live out the remainder of his days. My new comp is Partridge. Me and Anderson took him out his first night in the mission back in the Kennewick days, he seems like a nice enough guy. He's a bigg'n, real tall and real wide, so I'll have a body guard to watch my back. The other fun item of note from the transfer calls is that we have successfully seceded. Back when the zones were first consolidated Hermiston and Walla Walla zones combined to be Blue Mountain Zone, ever since there has been talks of rebellion and secession. In the transfer call it was officially announced that Hermiston zone would be reinstated. The South rose again!

It was a pretty good week. Conference was of course awesome. I especially enjoyed the priesthood session. There was a guy in the choir that I could've sworn was Eric...but probably wasn't. You know you're getting close to the end of the mission when you start to struggle to recognize family members.

This week's random acts of service? First we fixed a center pivot. Then we wrangled cattle. Yup. Wrangled. Some of the highlights of that day were when I tackled a calf, and later kicked a cow in the face, and many other reasonable acts of violence towards cows. I gave a lot of vaccinations, and also learned how to castrate a cow. All kinds of life lessons were learned. It was a pretty fun day of service. Lots of laughs, and lots of close calls with trampling. Good times good times.

The work continues to go well. The girl we baptized is doing good. And her mom and two brothers want to be baptized. They are currently on date for the 21st of this month. Life in the mission is good, and hopefully all is well with everyone else. Have a great week and a happy Easter!

Love,

Elder Richards

A Real Live Texan Cowboy

Hello One and All,

First off the news about transfers is that I am staying in Boardman for another transfer, and yes, it is in the middle of nowhere. Elder Hardy is getting transferred to Vancouver where he will probably live out the remainder of his days. My new comp is Partridge. Me and Anderson took him out his first night in the mission back in the kennewick days, he seems like a nice enough guy. He's a bigg'n, real tall and real wide, so I'll have a body guard to watch my back. The other fun item of note from the transfer calls is that we have successfully seceded. Back when the zones were first consolidated Hermiston and Walla Walla zones combined to be Blue Mountain Zone, ever since there has been talks of rebellion and secession. In the transfer call it was officially announced that Hermiston zone would be reinstated. The south rouse again!

It was a pretty good week. Conference was of course awesome. I especially enjoyed the priesthood session. There was a guy in the choir that I could have sworn was Eric...but probably wasn't. You know you're getting close to the end of the mission when you start to struggle to recognize family members.

This week's random acts of service? First we fixed a center pivot. Then we wrangled cattle. Yup. Wrangled. Some of the highlights of that day were when I tackled a calf, and later kicked a cow in the face, and many other reasonable acts of violence towards cows. I gave a lot of vaccinations, and also learned how to castrate a cow. All kinds of life lessons were learned. It was a pretty fun day of service. Lots of laughs, and lots of close calls with trampling. Good times good times.

The work continues to go well. The girl we baptized is doing good. And her mom and two brothers want to be baptized. They are currently on date for the 21st of this month. Life in the mission is good, and hopefully all is well with everyone else. Have a great week and a happy Easter!

Love,

Elder Richards

Adventures In Boardman

Hello One and All,

Well a big congrats to Whit and Cody and little baby boy. Looking at all the pictures I made a few observations: Cody's hair is getting pretty long, Mike seems to be getting a bit heavier (no offense, it's happening to me too), and the kids look great and sooo big.

It's been a pretty good week. This week's crazy act of service/priesthood use was burrying a dog, and then dedicating the grave. Fun times in a hick town. The young man in question seems to be coping fairly well at this point. The week itself was pretty productive and enjoyable. Our baptism did go through which was very exciting and now the rest of the family wants to be baptized so in another couple weeks we should be having another baptism. Hopefully I'll be around for it. But this being the last week of transfers anything is possible. The leading hypothesis is that I get transferred to where ever my last area will be, and that Hardy lives out the remainder of his days here in Boardman. Vamos a ver.

Friday night we got a call from a family in the ward who was having their 8 year old daughter Emily baptized on Saturday. Apparently Emily had asked for "the missionary that had been here before" to confirm her at the baptism. So I got to do that which was cool. She was the cutest little thing. Then that evening we had our own baptism that went awesomely, and afterwards we had a great discussion with the family at Mickey D's. The next day Maria (the girl who got baptized) did not have a ride to church because her mom had to work. So we rushed out to go get her about 5 minutes before the meeting started. We got back not too late and while I was scrambling trying to get the translating equipment passed out to everyone I realized it was awful quite in the chapel so I hurried and dashed up to the stand to give the opening prayer. Then afterwards I got to confirm Maria, so what started out a little crazy and hectic, ended very well. And now Maria is an official Mormon. Afterwards I got to translate for 2 hours straight and was left very drained for the duration of fast Sunday.

We also found a bunch of other people that we have started teaching so things are going pretty well for the work here in Boardman. I'm really excited for General Conference this next weekend. Always a good time. The sun staying out late these days is really weirding me out, a lot of the houses that up until now we've only visited in night time look like completely new houses.

Love,
Elder Richards

Hello One and All,

Well another week come and gone. Mom, I got the package, gracias. This last week’s service: Tear out a deck and start building from scratch. So far, so good. We got it out. We put in the new foundation, and this week we will probably finish it. Lots of manual labor that hopefully I can use in the future.

The week was good. We taught a ton of lessons. The best ones being with Kristyn and the Baker Family. Kristyn is realizing more and more that the choices she is making won't make her happy in the long run, her eyes are opening up a little bit. Then last night we taught the Baker Family at the Stake President's house. We taught them the Plan of Salvation, Dave (the father) is really starting to show some interest in this. At the start of the visits he was the most closed off and skeptical of what we were sharing, but now, and especially last night, you could really see the wheels turning in his head. The idea of eternal families seemed particularly important to him, that and how he'll one day have his leg back. Good good family.

We have Maria all lined up for her baptism this Saturday so we're pretty excited about that. Elder Hardy will baptize her, and I'll confirm her the next day. It should be way good, we have a pretty good program set up for it.

We went on exchanges this week, so I hosted the District Leader in our area. It went rather well, and we had a good time. Shared some laughs, shared some lessons, and he smiled and nodded a lot while I spoke to people in Spanish.

We also had a correctional lunch with the ZL's on Saturday. Nothing major, just to talk out a few things. In all actuality the correcting took up all of 2 minutes, and then after that they asked me to tell them the famous sting operation story from last transfer.

We also had a specialized training with President Greer that was way good. He had a role play in which he basically explained that he is giving up ...dollars in profits to be here for 3 years and how that is not what is important when compared to a testimony of the gospel. And I thought I was making a sacrifice. He also gave us a training on how important it is to be trusted,and how our lives will be infinitely better if we have the trust of everyone around us.

Well, hope everyone had a great week and that everything went well with Ben's baptism and Harrison's blessing. Don't be strangers; I'd like to hear from you.

Love,

Elder Richards

Hello, Anyone Out there?

Hello One and All,

Well another week come and gone. Mom, I got the package, gracias. This last weeks service: Tear out a deck and start building from scratch. So far so good. We got it out. We put in the new foundation, and this week we will probably finish it. Lot's of manual labor that hopefully I can use in the future.

The week was good. We taught a ton of lessons. One of our investigators is realizing more and more that the choices she is making won't make her happy in the long run, her eyes are opening up a little bit. Then last night we taught a Family at the Stake President's house. We taught them the Plan of Salvation, the father is really starting to show some interest in this. At the start of the visits he was the most closed off and skeptical of what we were sharing, but now, and especially last night, you could really see the wheels turning in his head. The idea of eternal families seemed particularly important to him. Good good family.

We have an investigor all lined up for her baptism this Saturday so we're pretty excited about that. Elder Hardy will baptize her, and I'll confirm her the next day. It should be way good, we have a pretty good program set up for it.

We went on exchanges this week, so I hosted the District Leader in our area. It went rather well, and we had a good time. Shared some laughs, shared some lessons, and he smiled and nodded a lot while I spoke to people in Spanish.

We also had a correctional lunch with the ZL's on Saturday. Nothing major, just to talk out a few things. In all actuality the correcting took up all of 2 minutes, and then after that they asked me to tell them the famous sting operation story from last transfer.

We also had a specialized training with President Greer that was way good. He gave us a training on how important it is to be trusted. And how our lives will be infinitely better if we have the trust of everyone around us.

Well, hope everyone had a great week and that everything went well with Ben's baptism and Harrison's blessing. Don't be strangers, I'd like to hear from you.

Love,

Elder Richards

Still Tetanus Free

Hello One and All,

This week was pretty good I suppose. Our district got changed up. Me and Hardy got kicked out of ours and switched out with another companionship to be in the other district in the Hermiston Stake. Not the end of the world I suppose, but still a shake up in my otherwise nice routine.

We gave service at a dog shelter. Not as fun as it sounds. We took out as many dogs on walks as we could, that part was alright. It was the dragging them out of bathroom stained cages and forcing them back in that was not so fun. But at the very least we got to run around playing with dogs for a little while.

Another day we were having dinner with the Bishop out in the sticks, so we decided to go early and find all the secluded houses we could and see if anyone had some potential. We found a woman who usually is at work, but fortunately enough had taken that day off, sort of a 1 in a 100 circumstance because otherwise we would have never found her or gone back to that house. We taught her and she invited us back to teach her whole family, so we will see how that goes tomorrow evening.

We've been looking up a lot of my former investigators from a year ago which has been interesting. Some of them are basically right where I left them in their lives, but others are more open and willing to listen, so hopefully we can get some success out of them.

We put Maria Romero on date. She's the oldest daughter (15) in the family. Her mom wants to get baptized, but needs more time to get ready. So we'll be having a baptism in about 2 weeks which will be awesome. After she accepted the invitation, we celebrated by getting facials. Her mom sells Mary Kay supplies, and has lots of samplers lying around. Also it was Hardy's 21st bday so we had some fun. So Inez (the mom) gave us instructions and guided us through a facial. It was cool I guess. My skin was very soft afterwords.

Saturday was a day of service for us. We spent the morning throwing out scrap metal for a family in the ward. I cut my leg on some old piping, but my jaw has yet to lock up, so I'm assuming I'm in the clear. After that we went and washed the Romero's car (on a side note we did a terrible job and will be rewashing it tomorrow) and they treated us to delicious papusas afterwards. (Mom and Dad, if yall end up coming out that's one thing that must be experienced, the papusa truck in boardman. I missed it this last year...) While we were eating, two sharp looking satelite salesmen knocked on the door. And like most door to door salesmen, they were mormons that recently completed their own missions. So we had fun chatting with them for a little while.

On sunday we helped teach the 7 year old primary class. It was all about how to be missionaries. They all had some good comments and contributions, and afterwords we got cupcakes, that was my favorite part. Translating makes me very tired and very hungry, so usually we go scrounging after church trying to find as much food as possible. After a few more visits we went and had a big lunch at the Corpus' house which is always fun. I spent my first Thanksgiving and Christmas with them.

But yeah it was a good week. There are some big and exciting things coming up. Lots of potential, and lots of service.

Love,

Elder Richards

A Lung Full of Insulation

Hello One and All,

I hope everyone is doing good. I was sorry to hear about little Harrison's health troubles, hopefully he's doing better. This last week has been really awesome. Last night we found out that we led the zone in lessons taught. In all reality that's not all that impressive, because I'm pretty sure the rest of the zone just had a low amount of lessons. No worries though.

I can't remember if I mentioned this last week. But as I did mention the cop that pulled me over got baptized with his whole family, but also another woman I tried to teach that turned us away is now baptized. She's a real nice, spunky older lady. It's a lot of fun visiting with her, and she did remember running off missionaries, just not me specifically.

We continue working with the Romero family, they weren't able to make it to church this week because of a wedding, but they really enjoyed it last week and want to keep moving forward, hopefully they will be able to get baptized together soon, I think they will. We found this really sharp kid Kristen last week, she's 16 and has a lot of experience with the church, she's currently attending seminary and she has a super solid testimony of everything. But she is currently in a very transitional time of her life and is trying to figure out who she wants to become. She's a good kid, and hopefully we can help her make some of these decisions. We also went and found an old investigator I taught a year ago, Susana, she remembered me, but not much of the doctrine, so we are starting from scratch with her. Another one of her kids has left home now and is going to school in Salt Lake City (go figure, she wouldn't talk to us before and now she's in mormon capital). Susana seems a little bit more ready now, so things should be good. I also have a small stack of other people that we need to try that I taught a year ago, but I'm a little hesitant because not all of them ended on good notes, maybe a year is long enough for them to move on...vamos a ver.

This week we helped a member family out with building their house. First we were insulating the roof. So for a little while I was manning the machine and filling it with shredded up newspaper fuzz which was then sprayed up a tube and into the crawl space in the roof. After a few minutes of that the member shouted down we need a skinny guy up here. That's my cue. So I climb up there and army crawl all around the place spraying down insulation. I had to put all my weight on the three or four cross beams that I could reach so as to not fall through the sheet rock. Interstingly enough, despite my assumption I've had all me life, sheet rock is actually quite flimsy. Maybe we should change it's name....anywho. So skinnyness aside, I still managed to get wedged into some tight places a few times, but I finally got down out of the roof. Thank goodness for my face mask, it was dusty up there! After that we cut and hung up sheet rock. I'm gaining some valuable life experience out here. Speaking of, I've heard that we will be helping out with some cows soon...it's Pasco all over again!

Our member Sister Hoffman has been in Spokane for the last week, so naturally we party every night. Now when I say party, don't worry, we're missionaries, things don't get too crazy for us.

On sunday I translated again, (I'm pretty sure this will be a weekly thing), and afterwards we spent some time with Eloisa which was good. She's has a lot of tough times in her life. After that we got a ride with Arrow Corpus (the younger brother of Hopper who took us to Fossil every week a year ago and is now in Japan on his mission) down to Hermiston area to teach a family in the Stake President's house. It went much smoother this time, I didn't have any nervousness which is a plus. We focused on my favorite thing to teach, the Doctrine of Christ. The two sons are pretty open, but their father still seems like he is waiting to unleash some crazy question or anti stuff. We will see what next week brings. At any rate the Stake President thanked us afterwards and seemed really pleased with how we had taught.

After that it was about 6ish and we were pretty famished from a long fast. Earlier in the day the High Priest Group Leader had invited us over for dinner. Which we were greatful for because our original dinner had cancelled. We got to his house and they had quite the party going, grankids running all over the place. Apparently every sunday they have all the family in the area over for dinner, and they prepared a bountious feast of steak and barbq chicken. It was delectable. Point of the story being that after dinner Bro. Garrett was so gracious to us for coming over. It's next to impossible to leave that house with out feeling good about yourself, they truly love the missionaries.

Well, that is enough for now, I hope everyone has a great week. I love yall and look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

Elder Richards

Back in Boardman

Hello One and All,

So first off, to answer mom and Joy's question, no I am not living in the house with the fleas. That was in Vancouver, and we moved out of that into an apartment. My current address is:

Elder Stephen Richards
P.O. Box 786
Irrigon, OR 97844

Any and all mail or treats are welcomed and appreciated. We live with Sister Hoffman, a nice widow I lived with a year ago. The bishop actually talked to us about housing on sunday, so we may be moving in the future. We will see.

The first week back was pretty cool I suppose. There are a few people we are teaching that have a lot of potential. The Ramero family is awesome, and they should be getting baptized in the next few weeks. There's a recent convert family the Tabonys. Brother Tabony and I had a fun run in the last time I was in town. He wrote me a ticket! So yeah, the cop that pulled me over a year ago is now a member. Crazy! I've seen a few other people I worked with, the ward was all pretty happy to see me and they all remembered me which was nice.

We ride bikes a lot. It's ok, backside pain aside. The only thing that is unpleasant about it is that there is some crazy hurricane force wind every day. Just blowing blowing blowing like crazy. It makes bike riding pretty difficult. But I am in 6 months to sexy, so I suppose all the exorcise will do me some good.

We had a 70 come visit us on saturday and do some training. It was Elder Carden, he gave a very good training and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was also a good opportunity to get to see some of the missionaries I have worked with before.

Elder Hardy and I continue to get along quite well, we teach a lot which is nice. With just a dash of tracting each day. I have a handful of people I taught that I want to go looking for to see if they're ready a year later.

On sunday I translated the first 2 hours of meetings which always leaves me pretty drained. In sacrament meeting several speakers called in sick, so the bishop called up a few members to bare there testimonies to fill the time. I was halfway through translating him calling me up before I realized that meant I had to go up and talk for a few minutes. Everyone was pretty happy to see me up there. Lots of smiling faces.

In short, Boardman is an area with a lot of good potential, and I am looking forward to the coming 5 weeks.

Love,

Elder Richards

Still Tetanus Free

Hello One and All,

This week was pretty good I suppose. Our district got changed up. Me and Hardy got kicked out of ours and switched out with another companionship to be in the other district in the Hermiston Stake. Not the end of the world I suppose, but still a shake up in my otherwise nice routine.

We gave service at a dog shelter. Not as fun as it sounds. We took out as many dogs on walks as we could, that part was alright. It was the dragging them out of bathroom stained cages and forcing them back in that was not so fun. But at the very least we got to run around playing with dogs for a little while.

Another day we were having dinner with the Bishop out in the sticks, so we decided to go early and find all the secluded houses we could and see if anyone had some potential. We found a woman who usually is at work, but fortunately enough had taken that day off, sort of a 1 in a 100 circumstance because otherwise we would have never found her or gone back to that house. We taught her and she invited us back to teach her whole family, so we will see how that goes tomorrow evening.

We've been looking up a lot of my former investigators from a year ago which has been interesting. Some of them are basically right where I left them in their lives, but others are more open and willing to listen, so hopefully we can get some success out of them.

We put Maria Romero on date. She's the oldest daughter (15) in the family. Her mom wants to get baptized, but needs more time to kick coffee. So we'll be having a baptism in about 2 weeks which will be awesome. After she accepted the invitation, we celebrated by getting facials. Her mom sells Mary Kay supplies, and has lots of samplers lying around. Also it was Hardy's 21st bday so we had some fun. So Inez (the mom) gave us instructions and guided us through a facial. It was cool I guess. My skin was very soft afterwards.

Saturday was a day of service for us. We spent the morning throwing out scrap metal for a family in the ward. I cut my leg on some old piping, but my jaw has yet to lock up, so I'm assuming I'm in the clear. After that we went and washed the Romero's car (on a side note we did a terrible job and will be rewashing it tomorrow) and they treated us to delicious papusas afterwards. (Mom and Dad, if yall end up coming out that's one thing that must be experienced, the papusa truck in Boardman. I missed it this last year...) While we were eating two sharp looking satellite salesman knocked on the door. And like most door to door salesmen, they were Mormons that recently completed their own missions. So we had fun chatting with them for a little while.

On Sunday we helped teach the 7 year old primary class. It was all about how to be missionaries. They all had some good comments and contributions, and afterwards we got cupcakes, that was my favorite part. Translating makes me very tired and very hungry, so usually we go scrounging after church trying to find as much food as possible. After a few more visits we went and had a big lunch at the Corpus' house which is always fun. I spent my first Thanksgiving and Christmas with them.

But yeah it was a good week. There are some big and exciting things coming up. Lots of potential and lots of service.

Love,

Elder Richards

A Lung Full Of Insulation

Hello One and All,

I hope everyone is doing good. I was sorry to hear about little Harrison's health troubles, hopefully he's doing better. This last week has been really awesome. Last night we found out that we led the zone in lessons taught. In all reality that's not all that impressive, because I'm pretty sure the rest of the zone just had a low amount of lessons. No worries though.

I can't remember if I mentioned this last week. But the cop that pulled me over got baptized with his whole family, but also another woman I tried to teach that turned us away is now baptized. She's a real nice, spunky older lady. It's a lot of fun visiting with her, and she did remember running off missionaries, just not me specifically.

We continue working with the Romero family, they weren't able to make it to church this week because of a wedding, but they really enjoyed it last week and want to keep moving forward, hopefully they will be able to get baptized together soon, I think they will. We found this really sharp kid Kristen last week, she's 16 and has a lot of experience with the church, she's currently attending seminary and she has a super solid testimony of everything. But she is currently in a very transitional time of her life and is trying to figure out who she wants to become. She's a good kid, and hopefully we can help her make some of these decisions. We also went and found an old investigator I taught a year ago, Susana, she remembered me, but not much of the doctrine, so we are starting from scratch with her. Another one of her kids has left home now and is going to school in Salt Lake City (go figure, she wouldn't talk to us before and now she's in Mormon capital). Susana seems a little bit more ready now, so things should be good. I also have a small stack of other people that we need to try that I taught a year ago, but I'm a little hesitant because not all of them ended on good notes, maybe a year is long enough for them to move on...vamos a ver.

This week we helped a member family out with building their house. First we were insulating the roof. So for a little while I was manning the machine and filling it with shredded up newspaper fuzz which was then sprayed up a tube and into the crawl space in the roof. After a few minutes of that the member shouted down we need a skinny guy up here. That's my cue. So I climb up there and army crawl all around the place spraying down insulation. I had to put all my weight on the three or four cross beams that I could reach so as to not fall through the sheet rock. Interestingly enough, despite my assumption I've had all my life, sheet rock is actually quite flimsy. Maybe we should change its name....anywho. So skinniness aside, I still managed to get wedged into some tight places a few times, but I finally got down out of the roof. Thank goodness for my face mask, it was dusty up there! After that we cut and hung up sheet rock. I'm gaining some valuable life experience out here. Speaking of, I've heard that we will be helping out with some cows soon...it's Pasco all over again!

Our member Sister Hoffman has been in Spokane for the last week, so naturally we party every night. Now when I say party, don't worry, we're missionaries, things don't get to crazy for us.

On Sunday I translated again, (I'm pretty sure this will be a weekly thing), and afterwards we spent some time with Eloisa which was good. She has a lot of tough times in her life, but a lot of it is her own doing. After that we got a ride with Arrow Corpus (the younger brother of Hopper who took us to Fossil every week a year ago and is now in Japan on his mission) down to Hermiston area to teach a family in the Stake President's house. It went much smoother this time, I didn't have any nervousness which is a plus. Last week I felt like the Stake Prez was evaluating me the whole time, and that the audience was a little hostile. But this time around was much smoother, we focused on my favorite thing to teach, the Doctrine of Christ. The two sons are pretty open, but their father still seems like he is waiting to unleash some crazy question or anti stuff. We will see what next week brings. At any rate the Stake President thanked us afterwards and seemed really pleased with how we had taught.

After that it was about 6ish and we were pretty famished from a long fast. Earlier in the day the High Priest Group Leader had invited us over for dinner. Which we were greatful for because our original dinner had cancelled. We got to his house and they had quite the party going, grandkids running all over the place. Apparently every Sunday they have all the family in the area over for dinner, and they prepared a bounteous feast of steak and barbq chicken. It was delectable. Point of the story being that after dinner Bro. Garrett was so gracious to us for coming over. It's next to impossible to leave that house without feeling good about yourself, they truly love the missionaries.

Well, that is enough for now; I hope everyone has a great week. I love yall and look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

Elder Richards

Back In Boardman

Hello One and All,

So first off, to answer mom and Joy's question, no I am not living in the house with the fleas. That was in Vancouver, and we moved out of that into an apartment. My current address is: Elder Stephen Richards

P.O. Box 786
Irrigon, OR. 97844

Any and all mail or treats are welcomed and appreciated. We live with Sister Hoffman, a nice widow I lived with a year ago. The bishop actually talked to us about housing on Sunday, so we may be moving in the future. We will see.

The first week back was pretty cool I suppose. There are a few people we are teaching that have a lot of potential. The Ramero family is awesome, and they should be getting baptized in the next few weeks. There's a recent convert family the Tabonys. Brother Tabony and I had a fun run in the last time I was in town. He wrote me a ticket! So yeah, the cop that pulled me over a year ago is now a member. Crazy! I've seen a few other people I worked with, the ward was all pretty happy to see me and they all remembered me which was nice.

We ride bikes a lot. It's ok, backside pain aside. The only thing that is unpleasant about it is that there is some crazy hurricane force wind every day. Just blowing blowing blowing like crazy. It makes bike riding pretty difficult. But I am in 6 months to sexy, so I suppose all the exercise will do me some good.

We had a 70 come visit us on saturday and do some training. It was Elder Carden, he gave a very good training and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was also a good opportunity to get to see some of the missionaries I have worked with before.

Elder Hardy and I continue to get along quite well, we teach a lot which is nice. With just a dash of tracting each day. I have a handful of people I taught that I want to go looking for to see if they're ready a year later.

On Sunday I translated the first 2 hours of meetings which always leaves me pretty drained. In sacrament meeting several speakers called in sick, so the bishop called up a few members to bare there testimonies to fill the time. I was halfway through translating him calling me up before I realized that meant I had to go up and talk for a few minutes. Everyone was pretty happy to see me up there. Lots of smiling faces.

In short, Boardman is an area with a lot of good potential, and I am looking forward to the coming 5 weeks.

Love,

Elder Richards

Here We Go Again

Hello One and All,

Well transfer calls came in on Saturday with news that no one expected. I am being transferred back to Boardman, and Diaz is being transferred back to Vancouver. So we're both going to our greeny areas. Crazy. I head out tomorrow morning. My new comp is E. Hardy. He's a pretty cool guy, I've hung out with him this last transfer, he's not a Spanish elder, so I'll be doing a lot of Spanish talking this next six weeks. I'm moving back into my old digs at Sis. Hoffman's house. Hopefully I can readjust to living in someone else's house quickly It's been quite some time since I lived in members' homes. Crazy Crazy Crazy. At the end of this next transfer I'll have spent 6 months in that little town, this time round I have a pretty good hold on the language so hopefully I'll be able to do some good there.

The last few days were spent running around saying goodbyes. But it's not too much like goodbyes because I'll be only a stone's throw away, I mean I'm in the same stake for Pete’s sake. Lisa, one of our most promising investigators took it pretty hard that we are both leaving; she's in a real tough time of life right now trying to get her husband back up here (immigration issues). Hopefully things work out for her. She wants me to baptize her, so if I'm still in Boardman when that time comes I'll come down to do that.

Other really cool news is that Griselda Ramos (the mother of the two kids we baptized in Kennewick) got baptized on Saturday. That just leaves the oldest daughter. Her husband baptized her and it sounded like it was a great experience for everyone. As for the rest of my time here in Hermiston, tonight we have a few more visits to make, and this afternoon we will be spending time with our good friend Freddy Alva. Have a great week everyone.

Love,

Elder Richards
p.s. Some pictures of our adventures in the plex.