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