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
Monday, February 27, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Kind Of A Bleh Week
Hello One and All,
So first off, Mom, I got the money and the package, thanks very much! Another item of business for Mike, I met one Scott McDaniels. He served in Toreon the same time as you and showed me a picture he had of you in his mission phone book thingy. He said he didn't really know you, just of you. Also that you were widely recognized as being from Hawaii. He said he was an AP for a month or so, so maybe you remember him. Crazy, 2 guys in the same area that served around both brothers. The best connection I can come up with for Whit is that I ate with a nice old Russian lady the other day. She was so excited when I said the two Russian words I know. She made us some sort of cake, I don't know how to spell it, I had her write it down for me, but it uses characters that aren't on the English keyboard.
So this last week was mildly uneventful, I got a little sick the last few days so we only went to our set appointments, and the rest of the time I napped trying to kick the cold. It seems to be pretty much gone now which is good. I finished a beanie, and began another scarf, (all during down time, not work time.) Today we are going to Walla Walla for a zone Pday, and truth be told I'm not too excited about it, but that's alright, I'm sure it will be great.
This last week I got to go down to Boardman. It was good to go back for a day. It turned out that Eloisa (a girl I taught and baptized) was having a really hard time and said she needed to talk with me, so Elder Hardy told her he would bring me the next day, she didn't believe him because she didn't know I was so close. So we got permission from the DL and off I went. She was surprised to see me. It was good to see her and her two kids again; Jessie and Jade even remembered me which made me feel good. We spent most of the day visiting with her and talking things out, she's having a tough time right now. We also made the rounds to a few other people I know. It turns out the Castaneda’s are moving back to Boardman, hopefully before I finish so mom and dad can meet them, they are an awesome family that really helped me out when I first started out. We also went by a less active family I used to work with. They were happy to see me and we had fun catching up. We also helped them pail putrid water out of a broken washing machine. A good time was had by all.
This last week and a half I have used the priesthood a lot! I've cleansed two houses of bad spirits. Given a blessing of comfort to a girl having similar problems, and a blessing of health to a very sick investigator, it’s been crazy. We are currently helping our investigator Lisa try and get her husband back in the states. It's a lot of paper work and is frustrating, but we are keeping at it.
Life here in Hermiston is good. Nothing too bad that needs complaining about, hope everyone has a great week!
Mucho amor,
Elder Richards
So first off, Mom, I got the money and the package, thanks very much! Another item of business for Mike, I met one Scott McDaniels. He served in Toreon the same time as you and showed me a picture he had of you in his mission phone book thingy. He said he didn't really know you, just of you. Also that you were widely recognized as being from Hawaii. He said he was an AP for a month or so, so maybe you remember him. Crazy, 2 guys in the same area that served around both brothers. The best connection I can come up with for Whit is that I ate with a nice old Russian lady the other day. She was so excited when I said the two Russian words I know. She made us some sort of cake, I don't know how to spell it, I had her write it down for me, but it uses characters that aren't on the English keyboard.
So this last week was mildly uneventful, I got a little sick the last few days so we only went to our set appointments, and the rest of the time I napped trying to kick the cold. It seems to be pretty much gone now which is good. I finished a beanie, and began another scarf, (all during down time, not work time.) Today we are going to Walla Walla for a zone Pday, and truth be told I'm not too excited about it, but that's alright, I'm sure it will be great.
This last week I got to go down to Boardman. It was good to go back for a day. It turned out that Eloisa (a girl I taught and baptized) was having a really hard time and said she needed to talk with me, so Elder Hardy told her he would bring me the next day, she didn't believe him because she didn't know I was so close. So we got permission from the DL and off I went. She was surprised to see me. It was good to see her and her two kids again; Jessie and Jade even remembered me which made me feel good. We spent most of the day visiting with her and talking things out, she's having a tough time right now. We also made the rounds to a few other people I know. It turns out the Castaneda’s are moving back to Boardman, hopefully before I finish so mom and dad can meet them, they are an awesome family that really helped me out when I first started out. We also went by a less active family I used to work with. They were happy to see me and we had fun catching up. We also helped them pail putrid water out of a broken washing machine. A good time was had by all.
This last week and a half I have used the priesthood a lot! I've cleansed two houses of bad spirits. Given a blessing of comfort to a girl having similar problems, and a blessing of health to a very sick investigator, it’s been crazy. We are currently helping our investigator Lisa try and get her husband back in the states. It's a lot of paper work and is frustrating, but we are keeping at it.
Life here in Hermiston is good. Nothing too bad that needs complaining about, hope everyone has a great week!
Mucho amor,
Elder Richards
Monday, February 6, 2012
18 Months Older and Wiser Too
Feb. 6, 2012
18 Months Older and Wiser Too
Hello One and All,
Well, it suffice me to say this was a pretty crazy week. Big congrats to Mike and Jessica on little Harrison, very awesome.
It's crazy how old I am. I still have plenty of time left and plan on using every minute of it, but still, it is getting close. To celebrate the occasion we in the plex burned a pair of old slacks as per tradition. We also had interviews with President this week, they went super awesome, and I gained a lot of insight out of them.
We had some good success, but the big news was in the sting operation I was a part of, the homeless family we helped out, and the exorcism we did yesterday. Yup, just another week in the life of a WKM missionary.
I'll spare the details of the first story for a more in person description; don't worry no one got hurt (during). I was on an exchange with one of the Elders I live with and we went to a less active's house and it turned out they were about to set this guy up, so we helped out (kind of got roped into it) and the bad guy went to jail. Chalk one up for America! Again, no one got hurt, the mission president knows, so there's no need to call or anything else drastic.
The next day we got word of a family living in a tent by the river. A married couple, their son, and his girlfriend who is liable to give birth at any moment. So we hurried and threw together all our warm clothes and extra food and ran them over to them along with fire wood and other necessary items. They are now working with the transient bishop, so hopefully they get a place to stay soon. Their big problem? 13 dogs. Yeah, 13. No wonder they can't find a place to live.
Then yesterday we all fasted as a district to have the spirit with us and went and blessed a family and dedicated the rooms in their house, they had been suffering from some paranormal kind of goings ons. But the house is clean now, and we all had a testimony building experience about the power of the priesthood. A recent convert also called Diaz and I shortly after and told us of similar problems she is having, so we'll be checking her place out tonight.
It's been a heck of a week. Should be interesting to see what this week brings...oh well, good journal entries right? Anywho, I love all of you and hope all goes well for you.
Mucho Amor,
Elder Richards
p.s. sorry this is so short.
P.P.S. Ana Guizar, a woman that Anderson tracted into got baptized on Saturday. I'm told it was an awesome service and the spirit was super strong. Missed it by 2 or so weeks. Well, asi es la vida. As long as she is now closer to Christ right? It's a cool story, I got to see her progress a lot.
Have a great week!
p.p.p.s.
Anderson says his stalker struck again. Still no clues as to who it might be.
18 Months Older and Wiser Too
Hello One and All,
Well, it suffice me to say this was a pretty crazy week. Big congrats to Mike and Jessica on little Harrison, very awesome.
It's crazy how old I am. I still have plenty of time left and plan on using every minute of it, but still, it is getting close. To celebrate the occasion we in the plex burned a pair of old slacks as per tradition. We also had interviews with President this week, they went super awesome, and I gained a lot of insight out of them.
We had some good success, but the big news was in the sting operation I was a part of, the homeless family we helped out, and the exorcism we did yesterday. Yup, just another week in the life of a WKM missionary.
I'll spare the details of the first story for a more in person description; don't worry no one got hurt (during). I was on an exchange with one of the Elders I live with and we went to a less active's house and it turned out they were about to set this guy up, so we helped out (kind of got roped into it) and the bad guy went to jail. Chalk one up for America! Again, no one got hurt, the mission president knows, so there's no need to call or anything else drastic.
The next day we got word of a family living in a tent by the river. A married couple, their son, and his girlfriend who is liable to give birth at any moment. So we hurried and threw together all our warm clothes and extra food and ran them over to them along with fire wood and other necessary items. They are now working with the transient bishop, so hopefully they get a place to stay soon. Their big problem? 13 dogs. Yeah, 13. No wonder they can't find a place to live.
Then yesterday we all fasted as a district to have the spirit with us and went and blessed a family and dedicated the rooms in their house, they had been suffering from some paranormal kind of goings ons. But the house is clean now, and we all had a testimony building experience about the power of the priesthood. A recent convert also called Diaz and I shortly after and told us of similar problems she is having, so we'll be checking her place out tonight.
It's been a heck of a week. Should be interesting to see what this week brings...oh well, good journal entries right? Anywho, I love all of you and hope all goes well for you.
Mucho Amor,
Elder Richards
p.s. sorry this is so short.
P.P.S. Ana Guizar, a woman that Anderson tracted into got baptized on Saturday. I'm told it was an awesome service and the spirit was super strong. Missed it by 2 or so weeks. Well, asi es la vida. As long as she is now closer to Christ right? It's a cool story, I got to see her progress a lot.
Have a great week!
p.p.p.s.
Anderson says his stalker struck again. Still no clues as to who it might be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
